


Red on Red {JayTim}

by BloodthirstyMerc



Category: DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Adoption, Age Up, Also timkon, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Batfamily Feels, Birdflash - Freeform, Cheating, DC universe - Freeform, Date Night, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Is Gay, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, First Dates, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, I cannot tag, I'm Sorry, I'm so sorry, If You Squint - Freeform, Jaytim - Freeform, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Suicide Attempts, Mpreg, Mutual Pining, OTP Feels, One Big Happy Family, Oops, Original Character(s), Pining, Polyamorous Character, Protective Bruce, Protective Jason, Smut, They love each other so much, Threesome, Timkon, Trust, also Jason loves Roy, alternative universe, and nor am I, background BirdFlash, because i love them forever, but it's all good, but still a slut about it, but these boys aren't okay, he always will, heaps of character mentions, help me, i don't make the rules, i must have all of the tags, i'm not an organised person, implied JayDick, implied jayroy, jason's kind of a slut, lets be honest, mentions of self harm, no shaming, not even in my tags, okay not everyone, or judging, sluts are hot, the list never ends, they're okay now i promise, those tags are not related oops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-28 15:12:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 175,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13274106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodthirstyMerc/pseuds/BloodthirstyMerc
Summary: Tim should know by now that nothing is ever a 'once off'.He should know better not only for himself but for everyone else around him.He should know that 'once' matters.{{Updates every Friday}}





	1. The new Hood

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I'm back I know, I'm as surprised as you. The plan is to post a chapter every week, let's see how long that lasts aha save me from myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)

“You know what? Damian was right when he said you needed to eat more and stop living off coffee. You don’t weigh nearly as much as you should.”

Tim rolled his eyes, the lenses of his mask providing a shield so that the action wasn’t seen. It didn’t need to be visible though, the way his body slouched further and he let out a sigh was indication enough that he’d done it.

“I can almost - _cough_ \- guarantee if I weighed as much as I ‘should’, you’d be complaining how - _cough_ \- heavy I am.” Tim gritted his teeth, the gaps of them lined red with blood. His head hurt, mainly his jaw and he knew at least one rib, maybe two were fractured. He could still get himself around and he knew that, had climbed out of situations worse for wear and made his way home. Every movement from his ‘saviour’ jolted him and made him ache more. But he wasn’t going to complain, a free lift was always accepted.

“I mean in my defence I shouldn’t be carrying your ass around.” Red Hood shrugged, and Tim could almost see his smirk through the helmet, a smirk just like the Red Hood before him would give Tim when he was teasing.

“In _my_ defence, I never - _cough_ \- never said you had to.”

“In your own defence, you’d still be at the least like ten blocks back if I wasn’t.” He points out and Tim knows he’s right. He looks over Red Hood’s shoulder, back over the ground they’d covered. He’d probably have called in a lift by now if he was trying to make his way home, despite himself.

“I mean - _cough_ \- when you said you’d give me a lift I expected - _cough, cough_ \- I expected you to have your bike with you.”

“Exercise is good every once in a while. Besides, it’s half in pieces because Dad’s helping me upgrade it.”

Tim chuckles lowly which causes another coughing fit. He tries not to cough blood all over himself and the Red Hood, but there’s a lot in his mouth right now. He shakes his head and looks back up into the eyeholes in the helmet. “Jason’s a bad influence on you.”

“I doubt Dad’s any better than Bruce could be.”

“Yeah, you’re not wrong there, kiddo.” Tim admits, letting his eyes fall closed. He’s in good hands, Jason’s taught the kid well and he knows that it won’t hurt if he has a power nap right now.

\- - -

“Rise and shine Timbers.”

Tim groans and squeezes his eyes shut harder like it’ll help him block out the voice and the light poking to his arm. He swats at the hand and it retracts faster than he can hit it and is back to poking in the same beat. He swats at it again and only barely comes into contact with it as it pulls back again. That doesn’t stop it from returning to its poking.

“Stop.” Tim grumbles, coughing a few times afterwards. His throat is dry and his head still hurts a little. The rest of the pain in his body seems to be null at the moment. He’s probably been pumped full of drugs.

“Nope, you gotta get up, big B’s orders.” When Tim groans again the voice’s light tone mellows out to something softer and a little worried. “You’ve been out for a good few hours buddy and when you were brought in your pulse was really low. You’re pretty lucky your rib didn’t puncture your lung. We thought it had for a while. Damian panicked a little.”

“Sure he did.” Tim smiles lightly and opens his eyes. Jason’s leaning on the edge of the bed he’s on, somewhere in the manor. Tim lets his eyes focus a little on the older’s face. “And you didn’t?”

Jason smirks. “I knew you’d be fine, you’ve had worse and pulled through.” Jason stands up and helps Tim sit up, propping up a pillow behind him. He grabs the glass of water that was on the bedside table and hands it to Tim who mumbles a low thanks and sips at it slowly.

“Doesn’t mean a thing.” Tim shrugs and Jason sits on the edge of the bed and gives him a sideways smile that’s not as wide as it should be.

“You’re a tough cookie, we all know that.” Tim can hear and see that Jason had been worried. He doesn’t point it out though, Jason will admit it in his own time if he ever does.

“Y’know I thought it was you out there, for a split-second I thought you’d put that suit back on. He moves just like you.” Tim mentions and Jason’s smile softens some.

“You know I’d need a real good reason to wear that again Tim and I’d sure as hell hope he moves like me, I spent what, five years training him.” Tim wants to make a point that his life isn’t a good enough reason for Jason to go back out there but he keeps it to himself. He knows that if he was ever in a really bad situation and serious need, Jason wouldn’t hesitate to be the first to go to his aid and make sure he survived another day in this city.

“You don’t move like Bruce.” Tim notes and Jason chuckles.

“Unlike me, Michael listens.”

“So true.” Tim teases and Jason ruffles his hair lightly. They fall silent for a moment, just enjoying each other’s company. Tim doesn’t see Jason much anymore, not like it used to be when he really didn’t see Jason much.

When Jason came back and wasn’t spending his time brooding like Bruce used to and was actually intending to help out with the family, he’d only show up when he knew he was really needed. The only reason they ever knew where he was or if he was alive between those times was because Roy kept Wally updated. Then he finally came home, didn’t stay away and most nights Tim found himself working with Jason and Kon, sometimes Roy as well. Now that Jason’s thrown it all in, now that he says he doesn’t want to do it anymore, that he has no intention of being Red Hood or going out there at all, Tim barely sees him again. Tim can tell sometimes he wants to put that helmet back on and go out there, but he’ll always stop himself. He really needs an extremely good reason to go out there again after what happened.

Two years ago, he snapped, but Tim knows that it went back not long after Michael that he wanted to stop. They all knew that he wasn’t ready to have that kind of responsibility, Jason knew himself that he wasn’t ready to be a dad. He panicked, three days after Michael legally became his son and Dick was the only one who was able to get any sense into him. His biggest fear was turning out like his parents, was that the world he was pulling Michael from when he adopted him was better than the world Jason was knowingly bringing him into. But where Michael had come from was bad, like what Jason had gone through as a kid and when Jason had saved Michael that night and they’d sat down and talked while paramedics ran around like crazy to help everyone out, Jason found out that the kid had been in the same place he’d been before Bruce. Michael didn’t hate his parents, but he wasn’t particularly sad they’d been killed in the accident, surprising for a child aged nine. And Jason couldn’t stop thinking about the kid for the following week and decided that he could do more for him then just save his life and throw him in an orphanage.

Then he’d panicked when he realised that the world he’d brought Michael into wasn’t a world for kids, and maybe they’d all been put into it by Bruce, but that wasn’t what Jason wanted for Michael. Torn, he’d disappeared with the kid for a month before he returned a mess, saying that despite how much Michael said he liked being around Jason and how good it made him feel when the kid called him Dad, he couldn’t do it alone. He wasn’t Bruce, he wasn’t going to start his own little collection of Robins but he needed help from the one person he knew who spontaneously adopted kids because he thought he could do better for them.

Michael turned out okay. The kid understood what the world was like, Jason didn’t sugar-coat anything, came clear about what their world was and why they did what they did, why he did what he did. But Tim noticed Jason stopped making as many ‘unnecessary’ kills as he used to, Dick noticed it as well. He started to bring it back in, went back almost completely to his Robin roots. Justice, not vengeance, like Damian told himself a lot as a kid. Jason didn’t want Michael growing up with Jason being that, being the murderer of the family. And when Michael turned thirteen he’d asked if one day he’d do what Jason did, asked if he’d turn out like his dad. Jason had almost panicked because he didn’t want Michael to end up shooting people because he couldn’t trust them and so Jason had said it was his choice, and his alone what he became and left it at that.

A year later and Michael had said he wanted Jason to teach him how to fight like he did like he had since he was Robin. By then Jason only killed people he knew he had to without any other choice, despite what Bruce would say. Almost every time he did, Dick and Tim agreed he was doing the right thing. And so Jason did and it took him five years before he said that Michael could join him on patrol one night, despite how many times Michael had asked over the years. Kon, Bruce and Roy were with him that night. Michael did good, came out unscratched even though Jason let him have a lot of the lead, to prove he’d learnt what he needed. Jason went out with Michael every night and taught him everything he knew about the streets and the filth of Gotham. But Tim could see it in the way Jason did things now that he was just passing on what he knew, he didn’t want to be doing it anymore.

Michael just wore bits and pieces of their old suits, didn’t really have a name for himself and they just called him M or Kid while they were out. But he was meant for it, moved and flew through Gotham like Dick always had. Tim remembers sitting with Jason watching him train with Dick and it was almost like seeing Dick alongside his younger self. Tim also remembers how proud Jason was that Michael had turned out more like Dick then himself despite it all. Everything was going good, Michael had been out there protecting Gotham for almost three years with almost no issues. Sure he came home battered and bruised on occasion, bleeding from time to time but that was to be expected. Then _it_ happened and Tim thought Jason would never be the same again, would go back to the way he was before and they were all scared for him.

Michael nearly died that night, got jumped and couldn’t shake the mob that’d attacked him. It was only a few months after Jason started letting him go out on his own. The street gangs and mobs, the bad guys all knew that Michael was associated with the Red Hood, his protégé or something like that. And these guys had had enough trouble with Jason that they wanted to get even. Unluckily for them, Jason had been tailing Michael that night, because he worried so much. Fifteen people died that night, nearly twenty but Michael, beaten to near death managed to stop Jason from killing them all, just. They were left in no better shape than Michael. Everyone was sure Jason was going to stop Michael from going out, was going to tell him that he didn’t want it happening again, that he couldn’t lose him. Instead, Jason fell in on himself. He didn’t want to go back to that, he didn’t want to be the murderer of the family. He hadn’t killed in so long that it fucked him up killing so many that day.

Roy helped him bury the Red Hood. Dug up Jason’s grave and buried the suit and everything that went with it, minus Jason’s favourite knife which Roy convinced he should keep, for memories, for emergencies. A month later and Roy helped Michael dig it all up again. He took on the name, he wore the suit and became the new Red Hood. He hasn’t killed a single person in the two years he’s worn Jason’s helmet. Tim knows he’s doing it to prove to Jason that he can be the Red Hood without killing, but Jason can’t go back out there. He did it for too long, killed too many people. He’d rather see Michael put a good image to the Red Hood then fix it himself. And Tim knows that Jason’s never been more proud of Michael or himself. They’re all proud of both of them.

Now that Jason wasn’t Red Hood, he stayed home a lot. He spends a lot of time with Alfred and down in the cave working on things. He picked up Roy’s habit of tinkering a week after he stopped wearing the Hood. Tim’s always working either for Bruce or as Red Robin so he’s barely home and when he is, he’s normally with Kon. He’s trying to change things, trying to spend more time with his family but it’s hard. He sees Bruce the most and Damian more then he sees Dick. But Jason’s always here, just doing whatever to keep himself busy or he’s going off and keeping Roy from getting into trouble.

Tim looks back to Jason who seems to be off in his own world as well. He smiles and reaches out to place his hand over Jason’s on the bed. It takes a second but Jason turns to look back at him. “I know you worry but you did good with Michael.”

“I know, you’re not the only one who’s told me that.”

“And he knows that every night when he comes home you’re gonna be there for him, no matter what he needs or how he needs you.” Tim pauses for a moment. “You… you’re a great dad Jason, seriously. I think you surprised us all with how naturally it came to you.”

“He was nine Tim, there wasn’t much left for me to teach him that wasn’t important you know? I got it easy. And he was a good kid from the start. But he’s grown up now, he’s his own person, I don’t have a say anymore and I’m okay with that.” Jason shrugs and Tim chuckles.

“You know he actually loves it when he gets back and you still father him like you did when he was younger. Makes him feel like nothing’s going to change.”

“He’s nineteen Tim, no teenager wants their dad ‘mothering’ them.” Jason rolls his eyes and Tim lets go of his hand and shifts himself so he’s sat alongside Jason instead of against the headboard.

“Has he ever complained?”

“No. But he needs space and… I dunno, I guess I just don’t know what to do with myself now that I’m not worrying about all the shit out there.”

“You don’t have to put on a suit or leave the manor to help out you know that right?” Tim keeps his eyes on the floor. He knows Jason feels useless now, knows that he wants to still help out even though he won’t say it.

“I know.”

“Good.” More silence. Tim liked Jason just existing in the same space as him. They didn’t need words and they didn’t need actions. Just silence, calmness, and love that they share but are yet to admit. Jason cares, Tim cares, they’re technically brothers and they’ve come to love each other as such.

“I’ve missed you.” Tim admits because even though Jason is still around and he gets to talk to him at least once a day on most days, they don’t get to spend time together anymore. Jason looks over to Tim and lightly pats his back.

“I’d miss me too.” He chuckles causing Tim to roll his eyes and shake his head. “But seriously, I’ve missed you too Babybird. You’re gonna be at the gala, right?”

“Like Bruce would let me skip out on going.” Tim huffs and Jason continues to rub his back. It’s not that they hated going to the galas, they just got bored so easily.

“True. We can catch up then.”

Tim smiles to himself. “Sounds good.” It’s four weeks away, but at least they have that.


	2. 'fine'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)

Tim spends three weeks out and about when he knew he shouldn’t have. Not that a few fractured ribs have ever stopped him from getting his work done. He worked for Wayne Enterprises, he had to show up to meetings and get shit done on time, regardless what physical state he was in. And the streets still needed Red Robin. Michael makes an offhand comment about how he’s surprised that Tim doesn’t spend more time in the cave working away with Jason. Tim ignores what he says even though he’s wanted to do just that for a long time now.

The week before the gala Kon tells him to come and stay at his because he’s not going to be around over the weekend or Monday. Tim doesn’t think much of it and goes over because he hasn’t spent too much time with Kon lately anyway, by choice. He says it’s work but really he’s just been too exhausted over the past few months to care and has spent the time he usually spends with Kon, sleeping. Once he fractured his ribs he spent even more time away from Kon. So he shouldn’t have been surprised that Kon wanted him to stay at his. He brought his work with him because he knew he’d need to get it done.

Kon keeps him from going out on patrol over that week and Tim listens, not like he had when everyone else had told him not to. By now his ribs would be pretty close to healing fully so he could have gone out without a problem, but when Kon said no he knew that it was a no. Tim can’t blame Kon for how he is, can’t blame him for what he does and the way he acts. He’s been through a lot, Tim gets it. And he loves Kon, he has for a long time now, almost as long as he’s loved others, almost. Kon isn’t number one, but Tim’s the only person who knows that. And Kon is the person he wants and has, Kon matters, most of the time.

It’s Friday night and Tim wants to be out tonight more than ever. He’s got itchy feet, has been cooped up in Kon’s apartment for too long and needs to get out and do something. That’s problem number one anyway. But that’s not the main reason he really needs to get out tonight. Kon’s not having a good day, he’s been in a bad mood since last night and Tim’s been treading on broken glass and rusty nails all day. He loves Kon, but he knows he shouldn’t have to be afraid of the person who claims to love him back as much as he does.

“Look I know you’ve got shit to do Tim but this is bullshit.” Kon snaps when Tim suggests they get take out because he got too caught up in his work and didn’t get to make dinner. Tim instinctively backs up and pulls his arms into himself so he’s even smaller than he normally is. Kon stares him down and Tim keeps his mouth shut. This doesn’t need to escalate. “I know the work you do is important but don’t the people in your life mean more to you?”

“Of course, Kon.”

“Then why can’t you just stop, for one fucking day Tim?” Kon’s not yelling yet, but it’s quickly heading that way already. Tim knows that Kon’s temper can get the better of him and that sometimes he says and does things he doesn’t mean when he gets like this. Tim also knows that the reason he can get like this might have something to do with how he was created and what was done to him back then. Tim knows it’s not all his fault… he wants to believe it.

“You know I can’t stop Kon, you know that baby, you always have.” Tim keeps his voice low and calm, trying to get Kon to calm down as well but he knows that Kon had a shit day yesterday and that he’s had whatever this is festering away that whole time and now, he’s going to explode.

“Yes you can, you choose not to. Why do you think I told you to come over?” Kon growls and Tim looks down at his feet, something he regrets instantly when Kon moves up into his space and grabs his jaw and forces Tim to look up and him.

“You wanted to spend time with me, I’ve been… I’ve been too busy to be with you lately and I’m sorry.” Tim mumbles and Kon snarls, something animalistic and Tim gives up trying to calm this down because Kon’s not going to be reasonable now. Kon’s hold on his jaw tightens and Tim makes a small sound and tries to move away.

“You knew that and what did you do? You brought your work with you.”

“Kon I can’t just stop for a week.” Tim tries, his words sounding a little slurred with Kon’s grip on his jaw.

“What Bruce is too much of an asshole to let you off?” Kon hisses and Tim balls his hands into tight fists at his sides.

“This isn’t Bruce’s fault. It’s my choice to do the work I do, to have this workload and I’m fine with it.”

“I’m not.”

“Well get over it, Kon.” Tim growls. He didn’t want to get angry over this, Kon hates it when he gets angry back when he’s like this. But Tim knows there’s no going back now. Kon drops his hold on Tim’s face.

“You’ll always choose that fucking company over your family.” Kon spits and Tim rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Last I checked, boyfriend didn’t put you into the family.” Tim seethes and he should have known that a remark like that would have caused Kon to lash out, but for some reason, it still came to a surprise to him when Kon grabbed his arm and punches him in the gut, and not without lack of force either. Tim just thanks the universe it wasn’t his ribs again. He doubles over, holding back a cry of pain like he’s taught himself to for years now. Kon shoves him away and walks off, leaving Tim coughing and clutching his stomach. He tries not to cry, but he knows he’s at his weakest when this happens.

He gives it a minute before he gets himself up and collects up his things, he knows he’s not welcome here anymore. Kon’s in his room, which makes it harder for him to get everything but he manages. He stops in the doorway for a second and looks over his shoulder to Kon, who’s watching him without anything on his face. Without a word, he leaves. Usually, he’ll tell Kon that he does love him but tonight he can’t. He makes it to the front door before there’s a hand on his shoulder and he stops because he knows he can’t get out of Kon’s grip. There’s a long pause, enough for Tim to feel like maybe he’ll cry again from how much it hurts, how much it sucks that they do this, that Kon does this.

“I do love you, you know that.” Kon mumbles. And maybe it’d be nice to hear if it doesn’t sound so empty, like he doesn’t mean it at all. Tim shrugs out of Kon’s grasp and Kon lets him go.

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Tim whispers as he walks off, knowing that with his hearing, Kon would have heard him. He manages to leave with only the one bruise for once.

He’s not surprised that when he gets back to the manor everyone’s still up and actually home. He’s not meant to be back until the morning and everyone knows that. He sneaks in, manages to get himself into his room without anyone knowing. He’ll have some excuse in the morning for why he’s in before everyone else is up. He lets out a soft sigh and rubs his hand over his stomach, knowing that it’ll already be a deep purple at the least.

“You’ve lost your touch.” Tim nearly jumps out of his skin at the sudden voice. He should have known at least someone would have seen him sneaking in. It had to be Damian, he’s the only one to ever notice when Tim’s up to something.

“I wanted you to know I was back.” Tim jokes, turning around to face Damian with his arms over his chest. Damian rolls his eyes and tuts, that sound he’s always made from day one that used to make Tim grind his teeth.

“So why not use the front door?” Damian asks with a raised eyebrow.

“We don’t use doors anymore Dami, we’re Robin’s, we don’t need them.”

“Why’re you here Drake?”

“Aren’t I allowed to be in my own home?” Tim asks and Damian rolls his eyes and sits on the end of Tim’s bed.

“Tim.” Damian pushes and Tim knows he’s worried now. Sure Damian has gotten way better respect wise, he’s not a kid anymore, nothing that childish is fixated on him anymore. But he still didn’t use first names much.

“Kon and I had a fight, nothing big, I know he needs the space. We’re fine.” Tim lies. Damian doesn’t look like he believes him and for a long moment, they’re silent. He does it to try and break whoever he’s trying to talk to, to get the information he wants and find out the truth. Tim’s used to the game. After a few minutes, Damian stands up and walks over to him and puts a hand on Tim’s shoulder.

“You know you can talk to us about this sort of stuff.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Tim assures.

“Okay, but you know where to find us.” Damian moves past him and opens his bedroom door, looking back to Tim. “You know where Jason is.”

With that, he leaves. Tim stands in the middle of his room for a moment before he gets changed and crawls into bed. Damian always did that, whenever Tim was feeling off he’d tell him to go to Jason, would ask if he wanted him to get Jason for him, would say that Tim knew he could go to Jason, stuff like that. Tim didn’t know what Damian was getting at with all that, but right now, he was far too tired to care. For once he’s going to get to sleep early (for his standards) so he’s mentally and physically ready for the gala tomorrow. A night full of fake smiles and laughter. But a night with Jason. He smiles softly to himself as he falls asleep with that thought in mind.


	3. Gala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)

The morning of the galas is always the same. It’s a day full of prep work, but nothing too major; just making sure everything’s all cleaned up and nice, and that there will be enough fancy wines and champagnes to go around. They’ve all practiced their fake smiles and kind listening faces, they’ve all learnt to tie a bowtie and polish their shoes a long time ago by now. Michael’s still getting used to it, trailing Jason most of the time so that he doesn’t mess up in front of some snobby rich bitch. Tim remembers the first gala that Michael attended.

It was addressed early on that the kid, age ten at that stage, was not Bruce’s adopted son like most thought, but Jason’s. A lot of the older guests obviously didn’t agree with this at first, believing that the kid needed a loving mother figure in his life. Some of the guests still feel that way to this day, but others warmed up to the idea of Jason having adopted Michael once they saw how well-mannered he was. Michael still got nervous, which was understandable. Tim still gets nervous too. But the first time Michael was out there, following Jason around like a lost child, had left the kid feeling pretty scared. So many people with their noses turned up and dressed to the nines looking down on him and judging him without knowing a thing about him.

Tim had never seen Michael scared before that night, the kid was brave and didn’t usually seem to freak out easily. But Tim guesses it’d been overwhelming, and when he’d stepped up to Michael and told him it was okay and that he didn’t have to be scared, the kid had looked ready to cry. Everyone kept watching him, to the point where Jason had pulled him off to the side so he could talk to him away from all the stares. Tim stood beside Jason as he tried to calm Michael down but he kept saying he just wanted to go home. Tim had quickly and calmly gone over to Bruce and told him straight up that Jason was taking Michael home and wouldn’t be around for the rest of the night. Bruce didn’t have any problem with it, understanding completely, and Jason had carried Michael out the back door. Tim didn't see them for a few days after that.

Tim’s well on his way to getting himself a second glass of champagne even though the guests are only just beginning to arrive. Tim has convinced himself that he needs it from how stressful the past few months have been for him, despite how much that wasn’t an excuse. He’s watching Jason attempt to teach Michael _again_ how to do his bowtie. Michael’s fingers shake as he works the ends but he manages to get it done and Jason straightens it for him with a soft smile. Tim sips slowly at his drink with a small smile of his own as he watches Jason proceed to mess with Michael’s blonde hair for a bit.

“I’m not twelve, can you stop?” Michael chuckles and Jason hesitates for a moment like he was going to pull back instantly, but continues to run his fingers through the tips of Michael’s gelled hair.

“But it’s sticking up weirdly here.” Jason notes as he continues to play with it. Michael raises an eyebrow and pokes Jason’s chest.

“You wanna talk about messy hair? You haven’t done anything to yours.”

“I don’t need to do anything with mine.” Jason smirks and Michael reaches up and runs his hand through Jason’s hair, having to stand on his toes a little because even though the kid was taller than Tim - but who wasn’t? - no one in the family was taller than Jason anymore. He even matched Bruce’s height now, though Tim had a feeling that Michael might eventually match Jason’s height at some stage too. Michael screws his face up and pulls his hand from Jason’s hair, having barely run it through the white streak before his face showed disgust. Tim chuckles to himself at the sight.

“Except wash it, big time.” Michael looks at his hand which felt greasy now, not knowing what to do with it. Jason chuckles and runs his own fingers through the front, making it stand up the way he always had it.

“Nothing better than natural hair gel buddy.” Jason points out and Michael makes a low pained sound.

“God, I thought I was the grotty teenager here.” He shakes his head as Jason chuckles and pats his shoulder. Tim hadn’t noticed Dick standing next to him until he turns his head to look over at him. Looking up, Tim hums to signify that he’s paying attention to him now.

“Planning on forgetting tonight, are you?” Dick asks with a smirk and Tim looks down at his nearly empty glass, shrugging his shoulder. Tim’s a bit of a lightweight, given his size, but he’s gone a few times with a whole bottle and been fine, other times three glasses were enough for him.

“Haven’t decided yet.” Tim purses his lips and swirls what’s left in his glass before downing it. Dick watches him with a sideways smile.

“I’m not babysitting you if you decide to.”

“Didn’t say anything about babysitting.”

“Who’re we babysitting?” Jason suddenly asks with a knowing smirk. Tim crosses his arms over his chest and Dick nudges his shoulder with his own.

“A drunk Tim.”

“You’re already drunk and we haven’t even gotten out there yet?” Jason raises an eyebrow and Tim rolls his eyes.

“No Jason, I’m not drunk yet. I might not get drunk at all.” He looks up to Dick and makes a point of really pronouncing it like Dick wasn’t capable of comprehending what he was saying if he said it any other way. Both Jason and Dick chuckle.

“You drank those first two pretty fast, it might suddenly go to your head.” Dick notes and Tim lets out a soft sigh and turns away from him.

“Not your problem if it does.”

“It will be if I have to babysit you.”

“You said you’re not going to.” Tim reminds him and Dick shrugs one shoulder.

“I might have to.”

“I’ll look after him Dickie, don’t you worry about it.” Jason offers and Dick laughs. It’s fake, and not at all convincing. The kind of laugh he used to give right after Jason said he had something under control and before he threw himself head first into potential death.

“Not if you’re gonna be drinking too.”

“Relax Bluebird, have I ever let anything bad happen to our Timmy?” Jason asks and Dick gives him a ‘really’ kind of look and Tim chuckles to himself. Technically, no, Jason hasn’t let bad things happen to Tim, once he’d stopped causing bad things to happen to the younger. Jason rolls his eyes and waves them off. “It’ll be fine.”

“I’m not looking after both of you if it comes to that.” Dick states and Jason shrugs.

“It won’t.” Dick doesn’t look like he believes him, but Tim knows that if he decides to get drunk, or if by chance he does end up doing so, Jason won’t do the same. He never has. He’s a heavyweight, can handle his alcohol the best and can easily moderate his drinking on Tim’s. So if Tim gets drunk, he wouldn’t be at that point and would be able to stop so that he can look after the younger if he needs to.

“Are you three ready yet?” Damian asks, arms crossed over his chest and an unamused look on his face. Damian still didn’t like the galas, but being Bruce Wayne’s actual blood son, he was expected to show up to the yearly events. They all were, but Damian more so than the others. Jason flashes Damian one of his charming smiles, the one he’s perfected over years that he uses a lot at these events, the one that could charm the pants off anyone he wanted. Tim watches the way Damian’s frown deepens with the look as Jason wraps his arm around Damian’s shoulders and tugs him into his side.

“Cheer up Dami, it’ll be over before you know it.” Jason tries to assure but Damian doesn’t look convinced.

“It’ll be over faster the quicker we get out there.” Damian grumbles. Bruce gives the five of them a soft smile and sighs lightly.

“I know it’s not the best of times, but we have to get through this.” Bruce works his hands into the pockets of his suit pants. Damian grumbles under his breath that it’s Bruce’s choice to hold these events and that once Wayne Enterprises is passed down to him these stupid parties won’t exist anymore. Bruce has long given up telling Damian that he can’t stop them from occurring once he’s inherited the company.

“Okay kidlets, put on your smiles and let’s roll.” Jason announces as Damian shakes himself free from his grasp.

Bruce shakes his head with a soft smile, a real one, before he leads the way out into the main hall, their guests all ready to meet them, Alfred standing tall and proud on the other side of the door like he always is. Tim takes in a quick breath and goes to follow after them when he notices that Jason’s stood beside him again. Jason offers him a smile and rubs his back lightly before he moves out after the others. Tim smiles to himself and follows after him.

\- - -

Tim hadn’t really planned on getting drunk, despite what he said to Dick earlier about it and all the talk between them and Jason. But there was that lady -whose name Tim could never recall- who thought she had everything and would always without fail, complain about everything. Tim hated talking to her, but being a big part of Wayne Enterprises and having her be so involved in the company from the outside (yeah right) she wanted to talk to him almost every chance she could. Tim wore his smile well and was as polite as humanly possible to her.

Their conversations always went the same way, with her husband stood beside her she would start with talk of the company. Tim would easily talk to her through it and her husband would be silently stood there like he didn’t exist. Then he would mention, seemingly just when Tim was about to be free from the conversation, something about one of the others, usually asking what Jason’s doing now, and it would set her off again into ranting. She always seems to have something to say about them, always asked aggressive questions. She’d state how Damian should do more work for the company, how Dick and Jason were lazy for not being a part of it, and now that Michael was old enough, would say how he should put some time into it as well. She was good at complaining about Tim’s work effort, though she liked doing it through ways of ‘constructive criticism’, at least that’s what she called it. Tim could live through all that.

But her husband never failed to complain about Jason first. It was always the same, small jabs about his attitude and his reckless behaviour. It was almost like he had a personal reason to be against Jason, but as far as Tim knew, Jason had never done anything toward him to provoke that kind of aggression. Whenever Tim would retaliate, he’d laugh and say that Tim didn’t have to keep up the act. Tim tried to avoid conflict as best as he possibly could but there was clearly a reason the two were married. Tim hated it when his wife would join in with saying how much of a problem Jason was. Tim would grit his teeth and bore a soft smile like he didn’t want to punch her face in. Then they’d move on, saying they hoped he enjoyed the rest of his night and would always have the nerve to approach Jason next and sweet talk him. Tim hated it, had told Bruce about it, and Bruce had just smiled softly and said that they both knew what they said was wrong and that there was no point in trying to correct them.

Tim slips away after talking to them and stands himself in a corner with some champagne. He really hadn’t planned on getting drunk but the past few months had been hell and having to listen to their bullshit had pushed all the wrong buttons. By the time Jason finds him and is able to come over to him he’s definitely had one too many. Maybe a few too many if he’s honest with himself. Jason leans against the wall next to him and looks him over.

“It’s like Dick just knows.” Jason comments and Tim grumbles under his breath and takes another sip of his champagne. Jason holds out his hand and Tim passes the glass over to him with another grumble.

“I hate her.” He seethes and Jason looks out among the crowd and tries to follow Tim’s line of sight.

“Which one?” Jason asks even though he has a vague idea who Tim’s talking about.

“Bitch ass face.” Tim slurs and Jason chuckles at the younger.

“You’re drunk Timmy.”

“I still hate her.”

Jason gives Tim a soft smile and watches him for a moment. Tim stares out into their guests, seething quietly to himself as Jason finishes off the drink he’d taken from him. He watches Michael wander around a little helplessly, trying to avoid bitchy rich people trying to get up in his business. Michael kept to himself a lot, didn’t really like wearing the ‘I was adopted into the Wayne family’ badge for everyone to see. He hated all eyes being on him. He was still a kid really, and it’s not like he was ashamed to now be a part of this family, it’s just that he didn’t see why everyone had to make a big deal about it. Everyone expected too much from him too, which scared him a little.

“Shouldn’t you be playing the good daddy role and protecting your son?” Tim asks with a heavy tongue. Jason hasn’t stopped watching him, he notices when he looks back up to the older. Jason shrugs and slides in a little closer to Tim and wraps his arm around Tim’s waist. Tim happily leans into Jason’s larger frame.

“He’s fine Babybird, he knows I’m over here if he needs me.”

“You don’t need to babysit me, Jay, I’m fine brooding on my own in my corner.” Tim hiccups, covering his mouth with his hand and swallowing down a burp. He shouldn’t have had the last two drinks. Jason continues to smile softly as he leans down and kisses the top of Tim’s hair.

“I know you are, but we said we’d catch up.” Jason reminds him and some part of Tim feels bad for getting drunk before they could do that. Tim doesn’t see Jason much and he messes it up when he finally gets to have him for the rest of the night for once.

“I’m sorry, Jay.” Jason chuckles and rubs small circles into Tim’s back.

“It’s fine. How about you make it up to me on Monday? We’ll do lunch.”

“Can’t. Meeting.” Tim sighs and Jason kisses his head again.

“Dinner then. No buts.” Jason throws in when Tim opens his mouth.

“I gotta do patrol, Jason.” Tim tries to reason and Jason rolls his eyes and moves so he’s standing directly in front of Tim, crowding the younger against the wall. Anyone else and Tim would be a little tense at feeling boxed in, but something about Jason always made him feel safe and like he could relax.

“No, you don’t, Tim. The others can handle Gotham for one night. C’mon, I don’t see you anymore, baby.” Jason’s tone has a slight beg to it and Tim doesn’t register the fact that Jason doesn’t add 'bird' to the end of that baby. Tim’s shoulders sag and he slouches more against the wall.

“I’m sorry.”

Jason grabs Tim’s chin and lifts his head up so that they’re looking at each other. And Tim always tenses when Kon grabs his face in any way, even if Kon’s intentions are nothing but caring and loving, but Jason’s hold isn’t hard at all. It’s soft and careful, featherlight even, and Tim’s eyes fall closed for a moment as he relaxes into the feeling of it.

“Don’t be sorry. I get it, I know you can’t just stop working. You don’t shut off, you’re like Roy, you have to keep yourself busy and I understand and respect that. But… I miss you, Tim. I miss getting to talk and hang out every now and then. It’s one night Tim, I’ll make it worth it, I promise.” Jason doesn’t have to promise anything to Tim, he doesn’t have to come up with something to make it worth it either. Tim was already sold the moment he said he missed him. Tim smiles softly, a little lopsidedly because of the alcohol and holds up his finger to poke the tip of Jason’s nose.

“Okay Red, but you’re buying.” Tim hiccups again and Jason’s smile is so wide and bright at the sound of it that Tim’s heart beats unevenly for a moment.

“I think I can afford it.” Jason hums and Tim giggles, covering up his mouth again to try and stop the sound. Jason watches him again for a moment with a soft smile. He reaches up and brushes Tim’s hair behind his ear. “What time will you be home?”

“Uh… I’m not-” Tim doesn’t get to finish when Jason suddenly falls toward him. For a moment Tim thinks he’s stumbled -somehow despite not moving- and fallen into Jason. But he soon realises that it was, in fact, Jason that fell against him. Jason, still pressed a little more into Tim, but also keeping himself from being against him looks over his shoulder with an accusing glare. Dick throws himself lightly against the wall next to Tim with a cocky smile on his face and a glass of wine in his hand.

“Sorry about that.” He chuckles and Jason pushes himself out of Tim’s space and stands up straighter, moving back from Tim a little then what he was before. “Thought maybe Roy had snuck in and you’d cornered him for a little make-out session. Didn’t think it’d be Tim under you.”

Tim doesn’t look over to Dick and he basically looks through Jason to try and keep his face from flushing red at the accusation.

“I’m babysitting, Dick.” Jason crosses his arms over his chest and although he still looks a little annoyed, Tim knows that he’s not actually at all mad with Dick.

“I noticed.” There’s a suggestiveness to Dick’s voice and Tim swallows thickly, trying to get his tongue working so he can say something, but finding that the alcohol has really caught up with him now.

“I’m surprised you didn’t get West in here.” Jason notes and Dick shrugs a shoulder and takes a sip of his wine.

“He’s busy tonight.”

“So that’s why you came over, you were jealous.” Jason chuckles and Dick lightly hits Jason’s arm with the back of his hand.

“It wouldn’t’ve been fair.” Dick pouts and Tim rolls his eyes, shuffling over to lean his head on Dick’s shoulder.

“Jealous over nothing.” He manages to say without too much difficulty. Dick hums and wraps his arm around Tim’s waist and gives him a small squeeze.

“I mean you’re hiding away in the corner, in plain sight, it’s easy to misinterpret.” Dick shrugs again and Tim can understand that.

“Someone was getting angry with Mrs. accusation.” Jason adds in and Dick makes a small humming sound of understanding.

“You know not to worry about her, Tim.”

“I hate her.” Tim mumbles again and both Dick and Jason chuckle at his slurred words. Dick pushes himself up from the wall and Tim steadies himself again now that his leaning post has moved away.

“Have fun.” Dick says, mainly directed to Jason before he heads back off into the crowd of people. Jason turns back to Tim and holds out his hand.

“C’mon, let’s go sit down so you don’t fall down.” Jason offers and Tim gives him a glare even as he grabs his hand, letting the older keep him stable.

“You’re so funny, Todd.”

“I try.”

Tim smiles drunkenly and lets Jason lead him through the room so they can take a seat out by the doorway, the living room bench sat so that they can look out the window into the night. Tim wants to flop down onto the seat and lay there, possibly nap, but he knows he still has to look somewhat respectable even in his drunken state. Jason sits a little closer than he normally would and leans back a little so that his hands are resting on the bench, one arm a little behind Tim. Tim tries to remember what they were talking about before Dick interrupted their conversation, completely zoning out for a moment as his fuzzy mind tries to think back. Unknowingly to him, Jason watches on with a sideways smile as Tim’s mind ticks over.

“I don’t know when the meeting will finish.” He mumbles and Jason chuckles lightly and leans forward on the seat, resting his arms on his knees.

“That’s okay. Just text me or whatever when you’re on your way home. I’ll work it out from there.”

“Where’re you planning on going?” Tim hiccups again when he swallows back another burp.

“That’s a surprise, Timbers.” Jason smirks and Tim thinks about it for a moment before he giggles and leans his head on Jason’s shoulder.

“That means you don’t have an idea.”

“If you say so.” Jason shrugs and Tim hums lightly as he closes his eyes. Jason will let him nap a little while on his shoulder. Tim knows, he’s let him before.


	4. These bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)

Tim shouldn’t have, but he worked all through Sunday. He woke up late, a little relieved that his hangover wasn’t too bad and that his head only hurt a little. He sat at his laptop and worked the day away, only stopping when Alfred came into his room and refused to leave until Tim had eaten the food he’d brought him. Dick comes into his room around two in the afternoon and bugs him for a bit about last night. Tim answers with short replies and basically snubs Dick off. He doesn’t really realise he’s doing it until Dick jabs his side and points it out. It makes him feel bad and he sets his laptop aside so that they can talk for a bit.

“I’m sorry, it’s just I have heaps...” Tim trails off. He thinks about how angry Kon was on Friday and how not sad, maybe disappointed Jason was last night. Dick gives Tim a sad smile and pats his shoulder.

“I know, Tim. I just wanted to say something about last night because I’m not sure if I made you uncomfortable or anything.”

“What?” Tim gives Dick a confused look and thinks it over. He remembers everything from last night and at no point can he recall when Dick would have made him uncomfortable.

“It’s just I know you’re with Kon and Jason’s got whatever with Roy, but you guys were really close before he stopped going out as Red Hood and sometimes I think maybe something was there at some point and I say things and later realise that it’s pretty stupid. I shouldn’t have shoved Jason into you either. I kinda worried that was gonna make things uncomfortable for you guys for the rest of the night and I’m glad it didn’t.”

Tim’s mind whirls for a moment before he holds his hand up so that Dick doesn’t try to say anymore. “Okay, I don’t really know what you’re talking about because you didn’t make anything uncomfortable, not for me at least. I know you were joking around Dick. Jason was just trying to get a point across and I was being difficult about it, I think that’s why he had me boxed in like that. There was nothing to it, we just don’t get to see each other much.”

“Yeah, no that makes sense.” Dick mumbles and Tim chuckles and leans back on his bed a little and gives Dick a smirk.

“You really think there’s something going on between me and Jay?”

“I don’t know Tim, he’s always so interested in being in your business and he always thinks about you first. He cares, a lot, and I know that, but sometimes it seems like there’s more to it.” Dick isn’t looking at Tim so he doesn’t see the smile that he gets from the younger.

“I can guarantee that if there was, you’d know.” Tim assures. Dick nods to himself and looks back up to Tim and gives him a soft smile.

“I wouldn’t care if there was. None of us would.”

“Kon would.” Tim mumbles without really thinking about it and Dick nods a little.

“Which is understandable.” And Tim nods to that. It is, but that’s not what he was really thinking about. Dick pats Tim’s leg and gets himself up from Tim’s bed, stretching a little. “I’ll get out of your hair so you can get back to work.”

Tim looks over to his laptop and the countless windows open on it. Dick wishes him luck as he leaves the room and Tim stares hard at the device for a moment before he reaches over and picks it up. He saves his work and closes some of the tabs before he shuts it and puts it on his bedside table. He gets up and makes his way out of his room, pausing for a moment to look back at his laptop. He shuts his door after him and makes his way downstairs to join everyone else in the living room.

\- - -

As much as Tim enjoyed spending what was left of the afternoon and the evening with everyone, by eight he was heading back upstairs so he could get more work done. He wasn’t going to come back up and do anything, wasn’t going to go to his room until he was ready to be going to bed. But thoughts of his work and what he needed to get done were nagging at him too much and he couldn’t stop thinking about it all. Jason noticed first and lightly ruffled Tim’s hair and said it was okay that he went and did his work, so long as he remembered that tomorrow night he wasn’t to do any. Tim promised he wouldn’t forget and said goodnight to everyone before he headed back upstairs.

Instead of going straight to his room he heads for a shower first. He lets himself spend a little longer under the water then he normally would instead of speedily washing himself so he had more time to work. He realises as he’s drying himself off that he really does spend too much time on his work and that it is affecting everything in his life. He pauses in drying his hair and looks at himself in the mirror. Heavy bags sat under his eyes from lack of sleep and his face looked so sunken from exhaustion. He looks down further at the gross bruising of his ribs and the worse bruising to his gut. It looks worse than he thought it would. He mentally makes a note that after tonight, he’s going to give himself more time, he’s not going to work himself to death.

He actually runs fully into Jason when he comes out of the shower, completely lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice the other standing there. Tim’s only in a towel and, for some reason, that makes him feel too exposed and nervous in front of Jason. He tries to give him a soft smile but it’s more forced than some of the smiles he’d given last night.

“Hey, sorry, I was… lost in thought.” Tim clears his throat and looks down at his feet. Jason smiles back, looking down Tim’s body. His smile slips away as easily as it came.

Tim knows that Jason isn’t an idiot, he’s had enough of his own bruises and breaks to recognise what’s what and how long the skin’s been bruised. So he knows that it’s not the bruising from his ribs, it’s too fresh, it’s in the wrong place, and its shape and colour indicate internal bruising. Jason knows it’s from a hit instantly, he also knows Tim hasn’t been out recently to get a hit like that.

“What happened?” Jason asks and Tim doesn’t expect him to reach out and lightly touch the bruised skin. Tim also doesn’t expect his fingers to be as warm and soft as they were either.

“It’s nothing.” Tim shrugs and Jason looks up at him and frowns like it’s bullshit, and it is- but what’s Tim meant to say? “It… it was my fault.”

“Who hit you?” Jason demands, and maybe Jason knows or has a feeling, maybe he can tell the difference between a normal punch and a punch from a super, Tim can’t be sure. But he knows for a fact he can’t lie, Jason will know if he does.

“It wasn’t his fault. I said something really stupid and… I hit him first, more than once and… he didn’t mean it, Jason, he didn’t.” Tim tries. Jason narrows his eyes, Tim not realising that Jason was holding his hip until his fingers tighten around it slightly, before they let go completely, as if Jason himself hadn’t realised he’d grabbed onto Tim.

“It doesn’t matter what you said or did, he can fucking take your hits, Tim. Unless you really mean it it’s not going to even bruise him, it won’t even fucking hurt. Even if you mean it you couldn’t hurt him like he can hurt you.” Jason growls and Tim panics and grabs Jason’s arms.

“Jason please, it’s fine, I’m fine. He made sure I was okay, he looked after me, he didn’t mean it.” _Lies_. So many lies Tim feels like he could throw up. Jason looks him over before he seems to deflate, like the anger was sucked from him by how upset Tim was. He pulls Tim into his chest, holding him hard against his body but not tightly, like he’s scared to hurt him more.

“I can’t believe he fucking hit you.”

“I hit him first.” Tim keeps pushing it, keeps feeding Jason his lies.

“I don’t care. If he hit you first would you hit him?” Jason pulls back and looks into Tim’s face. And Tim hates the fact that he can see that Jason’s worried to the point of tears almost. He should have gotten his clothes first.

“I don’t know, Jason.”

“Yes you do.” Jason pushes and Tim knows he’s right. He wouldn’t hit Kon, he’s never hit Kon because Kon’s hit him, as far as he knows he’s never laid a hand on Kon with the intention of bringing him pain without proper reason, when he’s absolutely had to and never without hating himself for it afterwards. He doesn’t say anything and eventually Jason lets go of him and takes a step back, still looking at the bruise on his stomach.

“That’s why you came home Friday night.” Jason figures and Tim lets out a soft sigh, nodding.

“He asked me to leave, said he didn’t want to hurt me anymore. I knew he wouldn’t, but I left anyway.” Tim’s never felt so disgusted with himself.

“Has this happened before?” Jason asks and for a moment Tim thinks about being honest, of stopping all the lies and telling someone the truth. He hates lying, especially to Jason. But he loves Kon.

“God no Jason.” Tim looks back up to Jason finally and the older nods, believing him. That makes it so much worse.

“If he ever does this to you again, tell me, okay? Please, Babybird.” Jason bites his bottom lip and fists his hands at his sides. Tim offers Jason a sad yet soft smile and nods.

“It won’t happen again Jason. I know it won’t. But if there was a chance that he would, I’d tell you.”

“Promise me, Tim.” Jason pushes, and Tim swallows thickly. “I know you love him and you care about him, but if he ever fucking touches you like that again… I will hurt him. You know I can, you know I will.”

“I know.” Tim sighs. Bruce wasn’t the only one with kryptonite stashed away for emergency purposes. Jason’s always had kryptonite bullets and even though he doesn’t do that anymore, isn’t Red Hood, he kept all that, just in case he ever had to use them. Tim knows he would without a second thought.

“Promise me you’ll tell me.”

“I will, Jay. I promise.” Jason nods again and pulls Tim into another tight hug.

It’s not the first promise Tim will break, nor will it be the last.

\- - -

Tim finds himself back in his room nearly an hour later, and because of how fucked up he’d felt from lying so much, his concentration and work is sloppy for the rest of the night. He stays up later then he normally would on his work, into the early hours of the morning because his meeting isn’t until one. He can get away with it, it’ll be fine so long as he’s up on time. He sets five alarms, all a minute after each other to be sure.

And normally, something taken as such an extreme measure would be fine, if he didn’t fall asleep with his work open, laptop on and phone not on charge. He wakes up to both devices flat and extremely disorientated like he doesn’t know where he is. He sits up and tries to get his laptop on and check his phone. He’s so tired it doesn’t bother him and he calmly plugs in both devices and waits it out for them to turn back on. Naturally his laptop boots up first and he opens it all up and continues on with the work he was doing the night before, looking back over his stuff and fixing it up. When his phone finally turns back on he actually checks the time. His heart feels like it nearly jumps out his throat when he realises how late it is, how late he is.

He jumps out of bed instantly, cursing himself for not putting his phone on charge. He rushes to get changed, putting on his work suit as fast as his limbs can manage. He grabs his portable chargers, thanking his past self for always keeping the batteries full and makes his way downstairs. He hurriedly starts making himself a coffee, not even noticing that Michael’s sat at the table, munching away on some cereal, watching him run around in his haste.

“Calm down, there’s not a shortage of coffee, Tim.” He mumbles and Tim jumps slightly and turns around to face Michael, the ends of his tie in his hand.

“Maybe not, but I’m out of time.” Tim mumbles and Michael frowns and looks at the clock.

“I thought the meeting was at one.”

“It is but I told Rachel I’d be in at eleven thirty.” Tim sighs.

“I don’t know who that is.” Michael shrugs as Tim gets his coffee sorted out and into a travel mug. Michael notices Jason come into the kitchen, stretching and watching Tim.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m late.” Tim turns on his toes and makes to continue on his haste out the manor, but Jason’s stood in his way. There’s a moment’s pause of them staring hard at each other, Michael watching as he quietly eats his cereal.

“Breakfast.” Jason says and Tim rolls his eyes.

“I can’t Jason. I’m so late, I have to go.”

“Tim-” Jason tries but Tim pushes past him and starts heading out the room.

“I promise I won’t skip lunch.” Tim calls out as he makes his way through the manor, Jason following him.

“Let me take you in, I’ll pick you up this afternoon as well.” Jason offers and Tim pauses for a moment and thinks on it before nodding.

“Okay fine.” Tim agrees and Jason smirks, grabs the closest set of keys and heads out the door with Tim hot on his heels.

They’re silent as they get in the car and head off. Jason can tell that Tim’s stressed out, the fact that he overslept and that he’s late as he nervously sips at his coffee, typing away furiously on his phone is enough to clue him in. Jason asks for the younger’s forgiveness in his mind as he takes a different route to Wayne Tower. Tim only notices when they come to a stop and Jason puts the handbrake on and Tim instantly goes to get out.

“What’re you doing Jason?” Tim asks a little frantically as Jason unclips his seatbelt.

“You’re having breakfast, what do you want?”

“Jason I-”

“I’m not discussing this Tim. What do you want to have?” Jason asks with an exasperated sigh. Tim realises that arguing will just lead to Jason wasting more time and lets out a sigh of his own and thinks about it for a moment.

“I want a breakfast bagel.” Tim huffs, turning to look at Jason again. “And two Danish pastries, one with blueberry and one with strawberry.”

“You don’t like strawberries.” Jason frowns and Tim sighs again.

“The pastries are for Rachel.”

“I’ll get you an apple and cinnamon bun as well okay?” Jason adds and Tim smiles softly and nods as Jason gets out the car and jogs inside the bakery. At this hour it’s not blustering with people and it only takes Jason a few minutes to get the food and return to the car. But in the time that he was gone Tim realises that he had forgotten to take his pills. He curses under his breath and shakes his head at himself. It’s fine, it’s just one day, he’ll be alright.

“Here you go, Babybird.” Jason passes him the bagel and sets the bun and pastries in the console.

“Thank you, Jason.” Tim smiles softly at him before he opens up the bagel and starts to eat it.

“I know you’re late and you think that you’re wasting time when you get food, but you need to eat. Seriously, Tim, you can’t keep skipping meals, especially breakfast. And don’t give me that ‘I’ll have lunch’ crap, I knew you weren’t because when would you have had time to get any once you were at work? You tell me, Tim.” Jason averts his eyes to Tim for a moment. The younger just gingerly eats his bagel and doesn’t answer. “That’s what I thought.”

“I’m sorry, Jason.” Tim mumbles and Jason’s tense shoulders relax some.

“I know you are, but you’ll really be sorry the day your body gives up on you because you haven’t eaten.” Jason notes and Tim shrugs like it doesn’t matter. “No, don’t you brush that shit off, Tim. It’ll happen, it has before and if I have anything to do with it, it’s not happening again. I won’t let it.”

“What’re you, my mother?” Tim asks around a mouthful and Jason gives Tim a sideways glare.

“If that’s what it takes to make sure you don’t get yourself hurt or killed.”

“You’re ridiculous, Jason.”

“No, I worry.” Jason mumbles. Tim watches Jason for nearly a full minute, completely silent and motionless. Tim knows Jason worries, Jason’s always worried, but he didn’t expect Jason to be so worked up over this.

“It’s a few meals, Jason.” He points out and he notices the way Jason clenches his jaw.

“Every single day, Tim. You miss out on at least one meal. You barely eat when you have food, you think you can live off coffee… Tim, you’re… you…” Jason sighs and shakes his head, cursing under his breath. Tim watches him for a moment, his body deflating. He puts the last bit of his bagel in his lap and reaches over to place his hand on Jason’s leg. Jason grabs hold of his hand within a heartbeat and squeezes.

“I’m sorry, Jason. I promise you, I’ll do better from now on. No more skipping meals.” Tim doesn’t look away from Jason when he says it because this time, he means it.

“You swear it?” Jason turns to look at Tim for a moment, just to look him in the eye. Tim offers him a smile.

“I do. Robin’s honour.”

That’s all Jason needs to hear to know he really means it.


	5. Making time

Tim gets in nearly forty minutes late. Rachel isn’t happy, but as soon as he waves the pastries under her nose she stops complaining about it and just starts running through the notes on her clipboard for the day. Tim interrupts her halfway through her dot points, holding up his hand as politely as he can.

“Sorry, just before I forget would you be able to organize some lunch for me?” He asks. Rachel seems a little thrown off but she’s able to shake herself out of it.

“What’d you have in mind?”

“Well considering it’s already a little late… could you bring me a sandwich from the staff room at about three?” He keeps his eyes averted away from her because he knows she’s probably eying him a little suspiciously.

“Any preference?” She asks and he shakes his head.

“Anything will be fine. And if my meetings finished by then could you just leave one on my desk?” He finally looks back up to her and is a little surprised to see the soft smile she’s giving him.

“Of course.”

“Thank you.” He gives her a soft smile in return and lets her return to what she was saying beforehand.

He spends his time before the meeting trying to sort out the mess he’s always left with. Rachel hovers, helping out where she can and reminding Tim of what needs to be done over the month, making sure to jot down anything Tim tells her to put as new reminders. Just when he’s getting ready to head down to the boardroom, Rachel suddenly stands up and flips through a few pages on her clipboard.

“I almost forgot, they’ve rescheduled Thursday’s meeting to tomorrow, now that means that the conference tomorrow has to be moved to either tonight or right after your meeting on Wednesday, though it’ll be a bit of a rush if we put it Wednesday.” She notes and Tim doesn’t think about it much as he collects up his files.

“Put it in for tonight, what time will it be scheduled for?” Tim asks and she quickly looks over the schedule.

“Starting from six, it’ll be a few hours, maybe go to nine if we’re lucky.”

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

Rachel offers Tim a smile and starts to write it all down as Tim moves past her, making his way down to the meeting. He runs his hand through his hair and reminds himself that after this week’s mess of meetings and conferences he’s going to talk to Bruce about shortening his hours. He gets halfway down the hall when he suddenly stops and remembers that he promised Jason dinner. He quickly makes his way back down to his office just as Rachel was heading out.

“Hang on a second, what other times can we do that conference?” Tim asks and she pauses for a moment to look over the schedule.

“Um, besides tonight or Wednesday, there’s only Saturday, but it’ll clash with your meeting with Lennox then.”

“Scratch the meeting with Lennox, he’s wasted enough of our time and if he really wants to he’ll reschedule. Put the conference for Saturday.” He asks and Rachel does as told, but still gives him a strange look.

“You’re free tonight, why change it?” She’s not trying to pry, Tim knows that. She’s just curious, seeing as he usually tries his hardest not to cancel things and make sure he has room in his timetable to squeeze in anything should he need to.

“Actually, I’m going out.” He notes and she stops writing to drop her arms down to her waist, holding the clipboard against her body as she gives him a soft smile.

“Dinner, is it?” She asks and Tim returns her smile.

“Yes.”

“Treating yourself for once?” Rachel’s smile reminds Tim of Jason’s, which makes him smile wider. He shakes his head and turns on his toes and starts his way back down the hall, Rachel following close behind.

“Being treated actually. Can you believe it? He thinks I work too much.”

“That’s preposterous. You’re not the one who puts the most hours into this company.” Rachel chuckles and Tim pauses for a moment and looks over his shoulder at her.

“Am I the one who puts the most hours in?” He asks, not actually knowing himself.

“Of course, you put in nearly double the amount.”

Tim mumbles a low ‘wow’ under his breath. He actually thinks about it and realises that it makes sense with how much work he does at home. No wonder everyone kept telling him he worked too much, he really did. “That’s going to change very soon.”

“I’m glad.” And Tim can tell with the relief in her voice, that she means it. “Good luck with your meeting Tim, I’ll have your sandwich at three.”

“Thank you, Rachel.” And with that, she walks off and leaves him to make his way to the boardroom. He even stops to have a chat with a few other co-workers on his way, knowing he’s going to get there early anyway.

\- - -

The meeting ends at three thirty, which Tim is super happy about. He was hoping to be done by three, but when everything started to really get rolling he thought maybe he wouldn’t be leaving the boardroom until five. He’s beyond relieved as he walks out the room, feeling like a massive weight has been lifted from his chest. Rachel’s in his office, working away on her laptop when he comes in. She looks up at him with a bright smile and turns her full attention to him.

“How’d it go?” She asks though she can probably tell by Tim’s smile that it was a good meeting.

“Smoothly. No rebooking’s, no complaints. All happy faces for once.” Tim announces proudly and Rachel makes a small sound of celebration, letting her head flop back over her chair as she lets out a sigh.

“Thank God. I went ahead and cancelled your meeting with Lennox and set it up for the conference to go ahead on Saturday. Lennox said he’s fine with it and you’ll be seeing him next Wednesday after lunch. I haven’t made any other bookings for you next week except for Monday; a talk with Mr Wayne is in order, I believe.” She taps her pen against her desk as she looks over her notes again to make sure she has it right. Tim smiles softly and leans against his desk.

“Best secretary ever.”

“You seem to forget that I’m not your secretary.” Rachel mentions and Tim shrugs.

“Between you and me, you’re the only secretary who actually matters in this building.”

“I’m flattered.” She chuckles and reads over the last of her notes. “Oh, I saw Damian earlier,”

“If it’s Baxon, I don’t want to know about it. He’s been giving me shit about that for two weeks and I’m working on it, he can wait. If he wanted it so bad, he should have done it himself.” Tim cuts in, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing heavily, making Rachel laugh lightly.

“He wanted me to tell you that Jason’s waiting for you at the south entrance.” Tim looks up at her before he looks over at the time.

“How long has he been here?”

“About forty minutes.” Rachel shrugs and Tim rounds to the other side of his desk and starts packing up all his things.

“Idiot. I said I’d message him.” Tim sighs and Rachel watches him with a small smile.

“There was one more thing.”

“Shoot.”

“Don’t forget Baxon.” Rachel chuckles and Tim groans to himself, giving her a pained look.

“I swear he wants me dead.” Tim mumbles. Rachel folds her hands in her lap and hums a sound of agreement.

“Enjoy your night, Tim.” She says as he finishes collecting up his things.

“Thank you, Rachel. You enjoy yours too.”

“Oh I’ll be staying back late, I’ve got a few reports to do up.” Rachel shrugs. “But I assure you I’ll enjoy my bubble bath that I’m definitely having the moment I get home.”

“You deserve to.” Tim smiles and she returns it. “See you tomorrow.”

“You will.” She calls to him as he leaves the office.

He moves quickly through the building and towards the elevator. He’s up numerous floors and even at this time of the day the thing takes too long to get down to the bottom floor with people constantly getting on and off it. It’s still faster than the stairs, which Tim will always take when he’s not in a hurry, sometimes will even when he is. Once he’s on the bottom floor, he makes his way to the southern entrance of the Tower. He looks around in the foyer, and when he can’t spot Jason straight away he pauses and has a proper look around. He finds the older outside, leaning against the large floor to ceiling windows having a smoke. He’d recognise that jacket and Jason’s stance anywhere. He heads outside and walks over to Jason with a small smile on his face. Jason looks over at him and returns his smile as he blows some smoke rings.

“Oooh, fancy.” Tim teases and Jason smiles, all tooth as he drops what’s left of the cigarette to the ground and snuffs out the butt.

“You know I taught myself how to do that when I was nine.”

“That’s not something to be proud of.” Tim raises an eyebrow and Jason shrugs, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

"I'd roll paper and set it on fire and tell myself it was smoking. Burnt my fingers plenty of times." Jason beams. Tim wants to groan and cover his face with his hands at how stupid nine-year-old Jason was, but instead, he just closes his eyes and tells himself he can't swat the back of Jason's head for it now that he's a grown man, despite how much he wants to.

“How’d the meeting go?”

“Successful. And I had Rachel bring me lunch.” Tim throws in and Jason looks a little surprised.

“Honest?”

“Honest. I said I’d message you when I needed picking up.”

“I had nothing better to do.” Jason pushes himself off of the building and stands up straight in front of Tim.

“Than standing around destroying your lungs? I’d say you could have found something to do.” Tim pretends to make it seem like he’s thinking about it.

“I think I destroyed my lungs a long time ago, and what damage I didn’t do, he did.” Jason mentions and Tim smiles a little sadly at that. “You ever had a collapsed lung Timmy?”

“Not yet.”

“Don’t plan for one, they fucking suck.” Jason holds out his arm, elbow folded out so that Tim can link his arm in his own. He doesn’t question it and lets Jason walk him back to the car. He always felt better about everything when he could just act however he wanted with Jason. It was a feeling nothing could replace and one Tim never wanted to lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	6. A date...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small warning for a small mention of a suicide attempt
> 
>  
> 
> Also I made myself a 'Jason Todd' Spotify playlist that I listen to when I write this fic. It's basically made up of other 'Red Hood' playlists I found on Tumblr but I'm continuously adding my fave 'Jason' songs and new songs I discover that I feel fit him. Feel free to check it out if you'd like :)  
> [ Here's the link ;)](https://open.spotify.com/user/kqfd8xeoc6xqgjvepjvhwqap8/playlist/4jcjulZBd0WVcWpvwBilAa?si=jaL5fPKlQy2yL1rIkbX-kQ)

By the time they get home it’s only four and so Jason tells Tim that if he really has to, he can go and do some work for an hour and a half but by five thirty he better be getting ready to go out. Tim thinks about telling him that he’s not going to go do any work because he doesn’t need to, but he stops himself and thinks about it. He does have a board meeting on Wednesday and if he gets some of the shit out of the way today, he has less to do tomorrow on it. So he sits in the lounge room for once and works away silently. Jason disappears to go off and do whatever it is he does with his time. Just before four forty, Michael gets home from college, and upon seeing Tim in the lounge, stops his trek to his bedroom and makes his way over to where Tim is seated instead. He drops his bag at the end of the couch and sits himself on the arm, giving Tim a smile when he looks up to him.

“You’re home early. Like, super early. What happened, power outage at the Tower or something?” Michael asks with a smirk and Tim shakes his head, suppressing the urge to act like a child and poke his tongue out at the teen. Something about Michael always made him relax, something like being around Jason did.

“No, my meeting finished about an hour ago and Jason insisted I come home afterwards, and because he dropped me off this morning he picked me up too, so I couldn’t really stay back.” Tim shrugs and Michael seems a little surprised that he hadn’t made an effort to stay back despite Jason picking him up. He shifts himself and sits on the couch, fully intending to stay there a while now.

“Why’s he so determined to have you home tonight?”

“He’s taking me out, apparently.” Tim smiles to himself as he looks back to his laptop and types some more out.

“Oooh, like a date?” Michael teases and Tim has to fight really hard not to crack a full-on smile at that.

“I mean, whatever. It’s dinner.” Tim states and Michael chuckles. When Tim looks back over at him his full attention is on Tim, looking very pleased with a stupid sideways smile on his face.

“So, a date then.”

Tim shakes his head again and goes back to his work, though his concentration is completely gone now. He tries to type out a sentence a few times, then gives up and deletes it entirely before he saves his work. He closes his laptop and turns in his chair to look over to Michael again. He’s still giving Tim a wide smile.

“What?” Tim says it with fake irritation in his voice and body language. Michael chuckles and leans back into the couch further.

“What what?”

“Why’re you looking at me like that?” Tim asks and Michael shrugs, picking at the rip in the knee of his jeans. There’s a small pause where Michael just continues to pull at the thread while Tim watches him. He finally looks back up to the raven haired man and offers him another soft smile.

“Y’know, I haven’t known Jason all my life, but I was old enough when I came into this family to understand and know him. And I’ve been here long enough to watch him grow as a person and all that, and sometimes he feels more like a friend then he does my Dad. And I’m okay with that, I mean I have nothing to complain about, being a part of this family is great, you never know what’s gonna happen honestly.

“But, being able to see these changes in him and watch him over time because y’know, I was learning from him, I’ve been able to see what really matters to him in his life and I don’t know if he says this but he really fucking cares about you. Like, you think he cares about Roy and he does but he has nothing on you. He always manages to bring you up in conversation, never fails to surprise how he’ll manage to do so and he just… it’s like he’s so awed and amazed by you. I dunno, just knowing he has you to hang onto is really good. You’ve definitely made him a better person, Tim.”

Michael’s not looking at Tim as he says the last bit, instead looking down between his feet and smiling to himself. So he doesn’t see the smile slowly slip off Tim’s face. Because he knows Jason cares and he knows he’s helped out with Jason getting better and yes, he isn’t blind and he knows that Jason pays a lot of attention to him, but he never thought he’d be more important to Jason then Roy. After all, Roy did literally save his life when he was in a bad place, twice. Tim’s never done that, not that he knows of. Michael chuckles again, which brings Tim out of his thoughts, and the blonde looks back up to him.

“And he’s been fucking talking about taking you out and ‘treating’ you because you work so hard and never give yourself anything back for so long now, so I’m glad he’s finally doing it so he can shut the hell up about it.” Michael throws in like it was an afterthought, like that hadn’t been where this conversation was leading all along. Tim can tell that it was.

“Seriously? Because he’s had plenty of chances.” Tim chuckles and Michael shakes his head.

“You’re always busy and when you’re not, you’re with Kon.” Michael points out. Tim’s smile drops and so does his gaze.

“Oh yeah, right.” Tim mumbles and Michael shifts forward in his spot and gives Tim a soft smile.

“I didn’t say it to make you feel bad, and Dad doesn’t mind, like, he understands. It’s just he knows he… never mind, I’m saying things he should be saying to you. It’s not for me to be talking about.” Michael runs his hand through his hair and lets out a small sound. “Just know that he’s never been mad at you for the work you do. He worries and he sometimes stresses out over you, but he gets it.”

“I know he does.” Tim mumbles. There’s a lot he wants to say regarding what Michael was talking about and what he clearly knows about Jason that Tim doesn’t. But he doesn’t want to pry. He knows Roy knows a lot, and that he himself knows things other people don’t, that Jason’s got secrets and he tells them all to different people, but never more than one and so he’s not burdening it all on one person. So he knows not to go asking. If Jason wants Tim to know, he’ll tell him himself in his own time.

“He just cares. A lot. Maybe cares about you more than anyone else.” Michael shrugs and Tim shakes his head and sits up straighter to properly look over to the teen.

“No, he’d die for you Mike, has said that he’s never been so afraid to lose someone before you. You’re his world y’know? I know we’re all technically adopted brothers and Roy’s his best friend, but you’re his son, you come before everyone else.”

“You believe that ‘best friend’ bullshit they spit?” Michael asks and Tim laughs with him.

“God of course not. You’d have to be blind not to see it. I mean Roy hangs off Jason more than Dick and Wally hang off each other and they’re legitimately engaged.” Tim chuckles softly, shaking his head.

“To be fair, Roy wouldn’t be here without him.”

“Jason wouldn’t be here without Roy either.”

They fall silent again as the weight of that sits between them. Jason and Roy weren’t the same person, they were very much different people. Their personalities clashed a lot and when one of them was angry with the other, there were two outcomes; the other is too sorry and upset about it for anything to happen, or they get angry back. They fight, verbally and physically but at the end of the day, they’ll be there for each other to comfort and care for. Jason wouldn’t have made it here without Roy, and Roy would be dead without Jason. Despite it all, they completed each other, most definitely.

“I wouldn’t be here without him.” Michael says suddenly like the thought had just come to him. And Tim knows he doesn’t mean here, living with the Wayne family. No, he means he wouldn’t be alive without Jason.

“Jay will never admit he’s saved lives. He hates taking credit for it. But yeah… I’m glad you’re here, kid.” Tim offers Michael a soft smile and sits back in his chair, slouching a little. Michael just smiles back and picks at his jeans again.

“So, about this date,” Tim lets his eyes fall shut and lets out a small chuckle under his breath, “do you know where you’ll be going, what you’ll be doing?”

“It’s dinner, as far as I know, I have no idea where.”

“Is Kon gonna be okay with you going out with him?” Michael asks and Tim breaths in a small sigh.

“Y’know what? I don’t really care. It’s just Jason, he’ll get over it.”

“Are you sure? Dad… he told me about how Kon hit you. He didn’t want to say it to anyone else, but he was really stressed out over it and he couldn’t not tell someone.” Michael admits and Tim’s not surprised. Jason’s bared too much on his shoulders for too long that now he just can’t not vent to someone when he gets stressed.

“That makes sense. It’ll be fine, he won’t get annoyed or anything about it. It was a one-time thing.”

“One-time things don’t always stay that way, Tim.” Michael mumbles and Tim smiles a little sadly.

“I know.”

\- - -

Jason tells Tim to get into something neat, but not fancy, meaning that he doesn’t want him in a suit. And honestly, Tim’s so relieved by that, because he lives in the things, and he’s tired of having to do just that. So he gets out his nicest pair of jeans, some faded greyish blue ones that he hasn’t worn much, and a neat button up short sleeved shirt. It’s nothing special, but it’s clean and nice yet comfortable to wear and obviously just what Jason wanted. As soon as he sees the younger he smiles softly and pulls Tim into his side, telling him how nice he looks when he doesn’t dress up all fancy in a suit. Jason’s also wearing clean jeans and a very simple but tidy shirt. Tim hasn’t seen it before, so he guesses that it’s either new, something that he doesn’t wear often, or hasn’t put on at all.

“So you actually have a plan?” Tim asks as Jason leads the way outside to the car. Jason shoots Tim a sideways smile and doesn’t answer as he gets in the car. Tim climbs in himself and gives Jason an expectant look once he’s closed the door.

“Seatbelt Timbers, safety first.” Jason notes and Tim doesn’t make any indication that he’s going to move.

“Can I have an answer?” Tim pushes and Jason sighs, turning to face out the front window.

“If you don’t hurry up, we’ll be late.” He mumbles and Tim sighs and puts his seatbelt on like Jason asked of him. Jason smiles triumphantly and puts the car into gear.

“So you have a booking?” Tim checks and Jason’s smile widens further.

“You’ll have to wait and see, Babybird.”

“You know I won’t be surprised if you take me out for Wendy’s or something, right?” Tim asks as he leans on his hand and looks out the window.

“I know. I promise you I did a little better. Healthier too.” Jason assures and Tim raises an eyebrow but doesn’t look over to Jason again.

“Since when have you cared about that sort of thing?”

“I mean, I don’t really. I’m just stating a fact.” Jason shrugs and Tim nods.

“Okay, good. Because, like, you lived off take-out when you were staying with Roy.” Tim notes and Jason chuckles lightly and looks over to Tim through the corner of his eye. It was nice being able to see him out of a suit and looking so relaxed, compared to the restless mess he usually is. Jason turns back to the road and his hand twitches slightly, wanting to move, but he keeps it still.

“I didn’t live off take-out.”

“You tried to.”

“We lived off pizza.” Jason confirms with a wide, shit-eating grin.

“That’s take-out Jason.” Tim shakes his head and Jason shrugs again.

“Yeah, but like, it was only pizza.”

“How’re you not dead.” Tim mumbles, not even as a real question. Jason has a lot of responses to that on the tip of his tongue but he doesn’t say them. Instead, he lets the twitch in his arm win and he reaches over, resting his hand lightly on Tim’s leg, closer to his knee. Tim averts his eyes for a moment and looks down at his hand, watching it a bit before he looks back out the window with a small smile.

“So you told Michael this was a date.” Tim announces then and Jason doesn’t say anything, just squeezes Tim’s leg a little. Tim doesn’t need his reply or to see his face to know he’s right. He also doesn’t need to say anything back. So it was a date, Tim was okay with that.

They don’t say much for the rest of the drive. Jason keeps his hand on Tim’s leg and after a while, Tim places his hand over Jason’s and keeps it there. Jason hums along to the quiet radio for a bit, asking for a little more on Tim’s meeting and tells him about the stuff he’d done while he was out. It’s small talk, not much, because they’re just existing together, which is what they’ve always done. Tim likes it, and he knows Jason does too.

The drive isn’t that long really, but Tim isn’t quite sure of time right now. He gets lost like that when he lets himself stop. It’s as good as it is terrifying because he can come to realise that he’s lost a lot of time if he’s stuck in that kind of dazed state for too long. But he knows it’s okay and fine today because he’s with Jason and they’re going out, and he has nowhere else to be beside right here with the older right now.

“I’m hoping you’re feeling up for Thai.” Jason says once the cars in park and the engines off. He gives Tim a warm smile and squeezes his leg again. Tim squeezes his hand back and returns Jason’s smile. Jason isn’t big on Thai, he doesn’t mind it, but he doesn’t usually have it as a first choice. Tim, on the other hand, loves Thai.

“You know I’ve been wanting some for weeks now.” Tim admits and Jason’s smile says it all.

“I know. C’mon.” Jason’s voice is in a sing-song kind of tone as he jumps out the car. Tim tries not to shake his head at how childish Jason can be at times as he gets out the car himself. Jason meets him on his side and offers his hand out.

“You’re touchy-feely today, aren’t you? So clingy.” Tim chuckles but he takes Jason’s hand in his own and links their fingers together. Jason shrugs and pulls Tim in close to his side by his hand so that when they walk, they’re pressed relatively close together.

“You don’t actually mind.”

“Can I ask?” Tim looks up to Jason as he leads them inside, not paying much attention to anything or anyone else around them.

“Sometimes you just need someone to hold onto.” Jason says it like it was a normal occurrence for him to want to grab onto someone and cling to them. Which if Tim was honest, wasn’t a regular thing. The person he held close most was Michael because he felt as though he had to keep the kid as close as possible so he didn’t lose him. Roy was a close second. But he never really took a need for holding onto someone much and never Tim, not before anyway. But Tim doesn’t mind it, is okay with Jason needing it.

“I understand that.” He admits and Jason squeezes his hand a little as they make their way up to the service bar.

“Thanks.” Jason mumbles before turning his charming smile to the man behind the bar. Tim watches Jason as he gets their table number.

“You don’t have to say thank you.” Tim tells him once they’ve sat down. Jason doesn’t look up to Tim for a moment and when he does, his smile is a little sad. Tim then realises that Jason has always said thank you for things he hasn’t needed to thank Tim for. Tim’s never really thought about it much, that Jason doesn’t say thank you lightly, but he seems to always be thanking Tim.

“I know you don’t think I do. But there’s a lot I have to thank you for, Tim. Seriously, a lot.” Jason runs his hand through his hair, which Tim notices looks as though Jason actually washed it.

“Like what?” Tim decides he might as well continue this conversation now that they were here. After all, today was about just getting to catch up and talk. And he was curious. Jason wasn’t a killing machine, despite his actions and decisions throughout his life. No, Tim is one of few people who know Jason’s a gentle giant with a big heart who hates to let people in so he can save them from his demons, and save himself from them. But his heart won a lot, if it didn’t, Jason wouldn’t have adopted Michael, would probably still be the Red Hood, and wouldn’t be having Thai food with Tim.

Jason doesn’t answer for a moment. Tim knows he’s not thinking about his answer and thinks to himself that maybe Jason doesn’t want to answer that. He won’t mind if he doesn’t, if he can’t. He watches Jason stare at the table for a moment before the older shrugs and meets Tim’s gaze again. His mouth moves but no sound comes out and Tim watches his tongue run over his lips to wet them before he clears his throat.

“A lot.” Jason repeats and Tim nods, averting his eyes for a second before he’s looking back to Jason.

“We don’t have to talk about it. It’s okay. I just don’t know... I can’t think of anything I’ve done that’d make you want to thank me.”

“You saved Roy, Tim. You helped save me. You’ve always been there for me even when I wanted nothing but to hurt you. You’ve done so much, you deserve more than a simple thanks.” Jason admits in a small voice. Tim didn’t really expect Jason to bring that up, to mention what had happened with Roy after Jason died.

Naturally, Roy had been in deep with Jason when he was Robin. He let himself fall in love with Jason and losing him had torn Roy apart. He’d nearly destroyed himself, had tried to kill himself because everything in his life went to hell after Jason was gone. Technically, Tim did keep Roy alive that night before the paramedics showed up, but Dick had been there too. Dick, who still blames himself for that night, for the fact Roy’s heart had actually stopped. Tim will never blame him and nor will Roy for the fact he froze up like he had when they found him. Tim knows that if he hadn’t been there, Dick would have saved him. But because Tim had rushed in, Dick was stuck frozen for longer then he would have had he been the only person to go to Roy’s that night like he was meant to.

Roy didn’t love Jason like that anymore. Claims that a part of him will always love Jason but that he isn’t in love with him anymore. Tim doesn’t always believe it, but won’t say anything. Jason and Roy were glued together as it was, Jason made sure he was always there and Roy never let go. They kissed, they fucked, they slept in the same bed more nights than not, but they weren’t together ‘like that’. No one cared, no one questioned it, they all understood. What they’d had before wasn’t there anymore. Jason wasn’t Robin, and Roy wasn’t in love. But Jason cared about Roy like he was the air he breathed and he always has. They all know that he always will too. They’d die without each other.

“I saved you?” Tim asks after a moment of thinking about it. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d done anything that was really up there in saving Jason.

Sure he’d dragged Jason out of danger when the other wasn’t in any position to get himself out, but Jason had done the same. He’d taken bullets for Jason, knives, occasional blasts, beatings, a lot of shit, but Jason had taken the same, if not more, for him. Jason liked getting in the way of bullets, a lot. Tim couldn’t count how much lead he’s pulled from Jason’s body over the years and how many times he’d watched Jason’s body drop to the ground after a shot had gone off aimed at Tim. Tim’s heart had stopped beating for seconds after each time, always fearing it’d be the one shot to put Jason back in his grave. Jason treated himself like a human shield and Tim hated it. It was one of the things he was happy about when Jason stopped being Red Hood.

“Why do you sound surprised?” Jason asks and Tim shrugs and taps his fingers on the tabletop.

“I mean you’ve saved me heaps as well, I didn’t think it’d be that big of a deal for you.”

“Well like, yeah you’ve done that too but… I know a lot of it was Roy… when I came back it was him who saved me. But you brought me back, Tim. You reminded me why I needed to be here, why I was here in the first place, why I didn’t want to kill Bruce. Bruce meant a lot to me when I was a kid, Dick too, and Roy was a distraction from that. You reminded me why I needed this family as much as I needed Roy. Because without Bruce, I wouldn’t’ have had Roy anyway, and I probably would have been worse off if Bruce hadn’t taken me in.”

“Worse than dead?” Tim asks without much thought and it pulls a surprised laugh from Jason.

“I mean that turned out working for me too somehow. Brought you here.” Jason admits and Tim chuckles as well.

“I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“That’s why you ended up dead.”

“How about we stop talking about that.” Jason chuckles and Tim bites back a smile and nods in agreement. “You’re a shithead.”

“I picked that up from someone you might know.” Tim teases and Jason can’t keep the smile from his face.

“Figure out what you’re eating, Replacement.” Jason nudges Tim’s foot under the table as he says it, and Tim knows it was meant to be like a kick, but it’s so weak that it makes Tim laugh more. It ebbs away, and a shy smile stays across his lips when Jason keeps his foot against his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	7. ...and an exception

Their night lasts a lot longer than Tim had expected. He hadn’t realised how much Jason had to talk about and how much he had to say in turn. Oddly enough, they managed to keep any talk about Wayne Enterprises to a minimum and they spent the most of their time just talking like normal people. They talked about current events, they talked about each other and themselves, hell they even spoke about the weather at one point. It was the most normal dinner Tim had had in a really long time.

It’s late when they finally decide it’s time to go, and when they stand up Tim offers his hand to Jason before the older can ask for it. They walk out to the car with their fingers locked together like they were when they’d shown up. Once they’re in and seated Jason pauses for a moment and doesn’t make a move to start the car. Tim waits and watches him as the minute’s tick past.

“Jay?” He asks after the silence and stillness had lasted longer than it should have. Jason sucks in a breath and turns the engine on and takes off. Tim watches him with slight concern. It’s like the moment the doors were shut, Jason shut down too.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Jason.” Tim pushes but Jason doesn’t reply. Tim lets the silence take over again and pays attention to the road. After a while, he frowns and looks back over to Jason. “Where’re we going?”

“If I take you home… that’ll be it.”

“What?” Again Jason doesn’t answer and Tim’s frustration grows, but so does his worry. “Jase?”

Jason tenses a little at the nickname. Dick called him Jase, has since he was Robin and no one else used it. It was Jason, or Jay, sometimes Jaybird or for Dick, Little Wing. Tim only called him Jase when he was concerned.

“If I take you home, it’ll go back to you working your ass off and me never seeing you.” Jason grits his teeth. Tim can feel his heart drop.

“Jason-”

“No Tim, you know I’m right. I don’t fucking want that anymore.” Jason curses to himself and then the cars jarring to the side and Jason’s slamming on the brakes. It’s late out and they’re in the backstreets. It’s dark and no one else is around. Jason looks about ready to have a breakdown, and Tim feels like an asshole.

“I’m done playing pretend Tim. I miss you, okay? I miss seeing you every day, I miss having you around and telling me that I’m doing something stupid, I miss you leaning against me when Dick puts on shit movies. I miss it so fucking much.”

Jason’s shaking, trying to keep his breathing under control but it’s erratic and uneven, and if Tim didn’t know any better he might think Jason was having an anxiety attack. But he’s seen that, no, this was something like anger and sadness, pent-up feelings and emotions finally exploding. Frustration. Tim’s been there but not like this. He opens his mouth to say something but Jason beats him to it.

“Fuck Tim, tonight’s been so fucking good, the best night I’ve had in months, maybe even years. I want this, I want to be able to spend time with you like this.”

“Jason.” Tim cuts in and Jason turns away from him. He sighs lightly and reaches up to rub Jason’s back. “I know. I’ve missed you too, I’ve missed it all so much. I think about it a lot, think about you a lot. Tonight’s been the best night for me too and I’m gonna change things, Jason. I’m changing my hours and workload. I’m gonna be around more, I promise.”

Jason turns to looks back to Tim and looks him over like he’s double checking to make sure Tim was telling the truth. He one hundred percent was. Jason swallows thickly and turns so he’s facing Tim fully again. “I… I want to do stuff like this at least once a month.”

“I’ll aim for once a week.” Tim promises and a smile finds its way back on Jason’s face. They’re silent again, but now it’s not thick and constricting like it had been before. Tim smiles wider and sits up straighter. “Tonight doesn’t have to be over Jason. What do you wanna do?”

Tim says it with a slight cheekiness to his smile and tone of voice. But the smile doesn’t last and his eyes widen slightly when Jason grabs hold of the front of his shirt and pulls him toward his own body. Tim doesn’t have time to react before Jason’s lips are against his and he’s kissing him hard and fast before he’s pulling back. And it’s not the first time Jason’s kissed Tim, but it’s been a very, very long time. Tim doesn’t move for a moment, maybe he doesn’t breathe either, but the shock wears off pretty quickly when Jason starts to move. He starts with taking both their seatbelts off before he’s shifting so he can crawl into the backseat. Tim’s heart thuds hard and unevenly as Jason grabs hold of him and pulls him back with him.

“Wait, Jay…” Tim falls short. Jason pulls Tim on top of him and grips his small hip in one hand while he tangles the other in Tim’s slightly long hair and pulls him down by it. He stops short though and doesn’t kiss the younger.

“I’ve seriously fucking missed you.” Jason’s voice is just above a whisper when he says it and Tim’s heart feels like it’s being squeezed, and his body definitely responds to the confession. And it won’t be the first time Jason’s fucked Tim. They’ve all had their turn with each other at one point. There’s nothing to it, just a simple fuck among family. It sounds like it matters and it’s a big deal, but with everything they’ve all been through in their lives, stress relief comes in many forms.

Tim doesn’t let Jason say anything else because he’s missed him just as much. He leans in and kisses Jason again, still rough but slower, fuller and with hunger. Jason kisses back in the same fashion, letting Tim lead the kiss as he keeps his hand firmly on Tim’s hip. He pulls the youngers hips down hard against his own as they grind together, exhales of air and small moans getting caught in each other’s mouths. Jason’s fingers are tangled nicely in Tim’s hair and Tim’s hands roam over the expanse of Jason’s body. They haven’t done this in years, since just after Tim got with Kon.

“I’m gonna be honest with you Timmy, I think about this a lot, how good it always was, how much I miss it and want it back. I know you’ve got Kon but… I’m not gonna hurt you like he does, I promise.” Jason mumbles between kisses because he can’t keep his mouth from Tim’s long enough to say it all at once before going back to kissing him. Tim doesn’t feel as bad about himself now that Jason’s admitted that.

“Honestly, I do too. I’ve missed having you like this.” Tim starts to unbutton Jason’s shirt as he says it, his eyes watching as more scarred skin is revealed to him rather than paying attention to Jason’s face. He misses the wide smirk Jason gives him because he’s too busy focusing on getting Jason out of his clothes.

“What? Underneath you?” Jason asks and Tim makes a small sound close to a whine and nods. Jason’s smirk widens and he surges up, grabbing hold of Tim tightly and managing to -somehow- flip them over without any problem. “Too bad I want you pinned down.”

Tim’s pretty close to being fully hard at this point, and the way Jason’s looking at him, the slight purr in his tone makes his cock twitch in his jeans. Jason leans over Tim’s frame and kisses him again, completely abandoning getting his shirt fully off and not even bothering with Tim’s. Instead, he opens up the front of Tim’s jeans and palms at his leaking cock through his underwear. Tim instinctively pushes his hips up from the seat. Jason gets the hint, pulling Tim’s pants down his legs roughly, taking his briefs with them. Tim’s lucky the shoes he wore were so easy to slip on because they’re gone with his pants instantly and Jason’s back over him. There’s a moment of pause of Jason looking over Tim’s small body. And he can’t help it, he softly, as gently as possible, runs the tips of his fingers over the bruise on Tim’s stomach.

“I’m gonna ask you something, and I want you to answer it honestly.” He suddenly says and Tim’s instantly shaking his head.

“Not now Jason, please. Later, after this just… please.” Tim tries not to beg but he’s definitely doing just that, maybe closer to a plea. He doesn’t want to think about Kon right now, and he knows that’s where Jason’s taking this. He wants Jason, he wants this, he wants _them_. Jason hesitates for a moment before he nods and leans down and kisses the bruise on Tim’s body.

“If I ever do something like this to you, I want you to do your worst to me and then kill me, or have Damian do it. I don’t care.”

“You’re not going to, Jay.” Tim can remember the times Kon said he wouldn’t hurt Tim and the times he said that it’ll be the last time he lays his hands on Tim. But Tim knew that Jason would stay true to his word, he’d never intentionally hurt Tim, never again.

“I promise, Babybird.” Jason pushes himself up Tim’s body and kisses him fully again. He sits up a little so that he can put his weight on his legs and use his hands to work his jeans open. “Enough sap, I wanna fuck your brains out.”

Tim openly moans, rolling his hips up trying to get friction from anything now that Jason wasn’t pushed down against him. Jason didn’t even have to try and say anything that good, all of the effect came from his tone, the way he said it all. Tim was weak to Jason’s voice, always loved it when he would get angry out in the field because the way he growled and snarled would make Tim’s knees weak and his dick twitch without fail. Jason’s voice is strong and thick and he always pronounced everything so directly. Tim loved it.

Jason chuckles low in his chest at the way Tim responds, the way the youngers legs fall open more like they weren’t already spread from Jason being between them. Tim bites his bottom lip and watches Jason pull his jeans down far enough to pull his cock free from his underwear and no further. Jason smirks down at Tim as he strokes himself slowly and fully. Tim’s toes curl and he shifts his hips so that they’re elevated a little and he’s got his weight more on his shoulder blades. He reaches down behind himself and spreads himself open, panting a little from how turned on he is. Jason doesn’t waste a second in bending down and licking over Tim’s hole.

Jason’s good with his mouth, has been for everything since as long as he can remember. Smart talking, kissing, blowing, eating out anyone. And he prides himself in it, always makes subtle hints about how good his mouth is when the opportunity arises and only the people who’ve experienced the _wonders_ of Jason’s mouth on them know how good it really is. Tim knows really well. The times they fucked around, Jason loved eating Tim out, and Tim always wanted it. More times than not, Jason’s cock wouldn’t come close to Tim’s hole because Jason would make him come with his mouth and tongue.

“Please tell m-me you at least plan on fucking me with m-more than your tongue.” Tim’s panting fully now, can’t keep himself up anymore and so Jason has to hold his thighs open and up so that he can comfortably eat the younger out without Tim collapsing on him. Jason smirks and keeps going on with what he’s doing for a few minutes, completely ignoring Tim’s question for that time being. When he pulls back, licking his lips his chin is covered in spit.

“You really think I’m gonna miss a chance to fill your pretty hole, baby?” Jason hums and it rumbles deep in his chest, the way he knows Tim likes his voice most.

“God, I hope not.” Tim isn’t whining yet, but he will be soon if Jason keeps going the way he is, which Tim prays he will. He’s proven right when Jason works two fingers easily into his hole, making him suck in a breath of air at the feeling. “Don’t waste time opening me up, Jay.”

“Won’t be time wasted when it prevents me from hurting you.” Jason says it in that tone, but Tim can also hear how he’s making sure Tim understands that he’s not going to do anything that could hurt him. Tim hesitates for a moment.

“No offence, but I’ve taken bigger, Jay.” Tim mumbles it because it’s not like Jason isn’t packing, but Kon’s got superhuman genetics, what can you expect?

“I’m aware.”

“Without prep.” And Tim hates himself for saying it as soon as he does because he sees the change in Jason. And he whimpers fully when Jason pulls his fingers from his hole and places his hips back down on the seat so that he can let go of Tim’s thighs and stop bending him almost in half.

“Are you fucking serious?”

“No- Jason, it was my idea.”

“Was it Tim, was it really?” Jason growls and Tim sags, sinking back into the car seat. He doesn’t say anything for a while. He lifts his hand a few moments later and motions for Jason to move closer. He does, boxing Tim in again as Tim wraps his arms around the back of Jason’s neck and presses their foreheads together.

“It was, Jason. But he didn’t stop when I said it hurt and I didn’t think I could take it.” Tim admits truthfully. Jason’s jaw clenches and his hands try and ball into fists in the car seat, but he has nothing to grab hold of except air because the covering is too tight.

“I don’t get it, Tim. He hurts you, on fucking purpose, why do you stay with him?”

“I love him, Jason.” Tim sighs and Jason looks like he wants to hit something but he doesn’t move.

“He’s not worth it, Tim.”

“I know!” Tim screws his eyes shut and digs his short nails into Jason’s still covered back. His heart beats unevenly and he sucks in a shaky breath to calm himself down. “I… I know Jay but I can’t… I love him.” He repeats and Jason deflates with him and nods.

“I know you do. And he’s fucking lucky you do, otherwise, I’d kill him.”

“I know you would.” Tim mumbles and opens his eyes again. Jason offers him a smile but it isn’t real. It’s for comfort and understanding, nothing more. They just watch each other for a moment, the tension between them ebbing away as they calm down. Jason tilts his head enough to kiss Tim lightly before he’s sitting back up between Tim’s legs.

“Sorry I killed your boner.” He says after a long pause and Tim covers his face with his hands and lets out a small chuckle.

“It’s not too late to save it. I’m sure you know how to deal with it.” Tim cracks a sideways smile and Jason’s able to give his own. There’s a lot to talk about involving Kon that Tim can’t share yet and Jason gets that. Baby steps, no point pushing it, just move on and be there when that dam breaks. Which Jason knows it will.

“You can bet on that, baby.” Jason takes himself back in his hand and starts stroking himself, getting it up again. Not that there was enough tension to completely kill the mood. “How about I give you what you want, pretty bird?” Tim moans a sound of agreement and spreads his legs further again.

“Y’know I wasn’t expecting this, so I don’t have anything on me.” Tim chuckles lightly and it takes a short moment for Jason to register what he’s talking about.

“I didn’t either, but I’m clean. I know you’re clean, it’s fine.” Jason smirks and leans in a little to whisper slightly, “plus I know how much you love being filled up.”

Tim doesn’t whimper or moan like his body wants to at the idea. He isn’t worried about that, he knows Jason’s right and yeah he loves that feeling but he didn’t take his pills this morning. He’d thought that Jason would’ve had something, but to be fair, they’ve never used a condom with each other. They’ve never had to.

“Wait.” Tim grabs Jason’s arm to stop him.

“What is it?”

“I… uh… you can’t.” Tim’s voice is small and weak making Jason hesitate more.

“What you think Kon’s gonna smell it on you or something?” Jason asks and Tim hopes that that’s not something that’ll ever be possible. He shakes his head and looks up at Jason again. He really wants this and he’s messed it up. “What is it then?”

When Tim fails to provide an answer Jason sits back again with a soft sigh. “You don’t want me to?”

“No. God, Jason I do.” Tim assures and Jason raises an eyebrow at him. It was one day, no harm in that. And if he was honest, he didn’t know what the percentage of the possibility even was. He’ll put his money on that percentage being low.

“So what is it then?” Jason asks and Tim sighs again.

“I don’t want Kon to hurt you if he does find out.” It’s not completely a lie, but it’s not the reason that Tim was scared about this happening. It’s only one day, it’ll be fine if he just doesn’t think about it.

“Then don’t let him find out.” Jason smirks and moves back over Tim and lines himself up. “Besides, he does try anything or he hurts you for this, I’ll kill him.”

Tim doesn’t get to say anything to that because Jason pushes in instantly after he’s said it. Tim whines, a moan following the sound as he’s filled, spreading his legs further for no reason other than the fact he feels like it’ll bring Jason closer to him. Jason always feels so good, Tim isn’t sure what it is about the other that makes him feel this good, because no matter what, Kon’s never felt as good as Jason. Maybe it’s the way he holds Tim, the way he watches him and moves for him, not just with him. Tim doesn’t know for sure, but he loves everything about Jason being inside him.

Jason bites his bottom lip and holds back any sounds that he could potentially make so that he can listen to Tim as he rolls his hips slowly. He pulls Tim as close to his body as he can as he continues to move his hands over the younger’s body. Jason wants to kiss Tim again, but being able to hear his sounds is the better option and so he leans in and nibbles on Tim’s neck instead. Tim’s hands scratch down Jason’s back under his shirt and grip his hair as he moves his hips back against Jason’s.

“Fuck I’ve missed this so much, missed you so much, Jay.” Tim tries not to whimper and whine too much as he says it and moves his body with Jason’s, but he’s always been pretty loud. Jason likes that he is. He’s so controlled in his everyday life, always has an air of professionalism around him and so much restraint in what he does. When he’s like this there is no control or restraint, he’s loud and needy and it gets messy and it’s hot, so hot to see Tim let himself go and loosen up when he’s filled with pleasure.

“You know, you don’t have to miss it.” Jason pants, keeping his mouth busy when he’s not talking so that he doesn’t interrupt Tim’s pretty noises.

“Listen, Jason, I’m all f-for weekly dinners but… this _is_ cheating.” Tim reminds, his eyes falling closed as he lets himself get lost in the feeling of Jason’s strong body on and in his own. Jason keeps his hands firmly on Tim’s hips but he doesn’t grip them to the point Tim can’t move them. Tim likes the way they feel, all smooth yet rough fingers holding him like they wanted to keep him safe.

Jason rolls his eyes and pulls back from Tim’s neck to look him over. “It doesn’t have to be.”

“What’re you trying to get at, Jay.” Tim doesn’t say it like a question, he’s too busy thinking about Jason fucking him to be thinking about wanting to talk to him, not right now anyway. Though Jason still manages to keep him feeling amazing, even though he’s not talking sexy in the slightest.

“I just don’t get what’s in it for you, being with Kon.” Jason grunts slightly, biting his bottom lip as he pushes himself up more and starts to really move his hips into Tim’s body.

“Fuck… can we n-not talk about Kon right now?” Tim whines and Jason smirks to himself and leans down to give Tim a quick, rough kiss.

“I feel like there’s a lot that needs saying though.” Jason pants as he pushes himself back up again. Tim doesn’t reply for a moment, letting himself just get lost in the feeling of Jason’s body moving against his own.

“Please.” Tim sighs and he’s not really sure if he’s begging for Jason to shut up or to fuck him harder. But he gets both anyway. Jason finally puts pressure on Tim’s hips, holding them firmly in place so he can fuck into Tim’s smaller body hard and fast.

The back windows of the car have started to fog up and Tim can feel the heat starting to get to him even though he’s only in his shirt. It makes a difference in the temperature of the space around them and he can understand why Jason’s already sweating. But it’s hot and messy and there’s nothing nice about it. It’s good and hot and to Tim, it feels amazing. Judging by the way Jason’s panting and biting back small sounds as he fucks Tim into the seat, it’s just as good for him. Tim knows he shouldn’t be close yet, he’s got way better stamina then this, but he feels amazing, almost perfect because Jason’s so good to him and for him.

“Jay.” Tim whines as he wraps his legs around Jason’s body to pull him impossibly closer, toes curling and hands gripping the closest part of Jason they can grab.

“Yeah baby, I’m there too.” Jason grunts and the sound makes Tim want to scream or something close because it’s so right and good, Jason is perfect.

“You gotta-” Tim cuts short as stronger waves of pleasure roll through his body. He needs to say it, needs to tell Jason he has to pull out but he can’t, he doesn’t want to. He loves Jason’s come, hasn’t had it in so long that he doesn’t want to deny himself of it. Jason takes the broken sentence for something else and shifts all his weight so that he’s only holding himself up with one arm. He takes Tim’s cock into his now free hand and strokes him hard and fast, not quite matching the pace of his hips, but it’s more than enough for Tim.

His back arches a little, less than it normally would with Jason gripping his hip as tightly as he is. He bites his lip and digs his fingers into Jason’s skin but still, he can’t stop his sounds. He cries out as he comes, annoyingly all over his shirt. But that’s not the thing that’s at the front of his mind right now. Jason doesn’t stop stroking his cock or fucking into his body as Tim’s back snaps back to the car seat and he sucks in a heavy breath to try and get his breathing back to normal. He’s non-stop panting and moaning at the over stimulation as Jason’s body keeps moving.

After a few moments, Jason lets go of his spent cock and grips both of Tim’s hips as he pulls the younger roughly back against himself and comes. Nothing more than a throaty grunt, Jason doesn’t get loud unless he wants to or really can’t help it. Eating him out gets him there. Tim whimpers at the warm, wet feeling of Jason’s come filling him, his own body still jolting and shaking in the aftermath of his own orgasm. Jason continues to thrust his hips into Tim for a moment after he’s come, with no rhythm or real force until he’s able to hold himself still, pressed tightly against Tim’s ass. He lets go of Tim’s hips and places his hands on either side of his body, dropping forward a little with a large intake of air. When he looks up at Tim he’s smirking, still panting and chuckling lightly. He leans in and kisses Tim again, Tim grabs hold of his hair and keeps him there longer than Jason planned.

“God, you seriously feel amazing, Babybird.” Jason comments with a hum, finally managing to pull his cock from Tim’s body, but keeping himself pressed against him and panting over his body. Tim smiles and lets his eyes fall closed.

“You always make me feel amazing.”

“You know that it could always be like this, Tim.” Jason mentions again, and Tim still doesn’t know what Jason’s trying to get at but he’s not sure he wants to know anyway.

“I love him.” Tim mumbles and Jason visibly shrinks into himself.

“I know you do, but you’ve gotta ask yourself, does he really love you?” Jason raises an eyebrow and the corner of his mouth cocks up in a face of slight disbelieve or in a ‘does he?’ kind of way. Tim doesn’t want to ask himself that, he already has, a lot of times and he’s never liked the answer. Kon loves him, it’s just hard to see it sometimes.

“He’s still with me, isn’t he?” Tim throws in to try and save face, to stand up for his boyfriend. Jason sucks on his bottom lip.

“And you’re here with me.” Jason counters and Tim looks away for a moment. Jason lets the silence fill the space between them for a minute. “If you really were worried about cheating and losing him from it or whatever you wouldn’t have let me fuck you.”

Tim doesn’t need to reply; they both know Jason’s right. Jason pats Tim’s thigh and moves so he’s not over Tim and helps him to sit up. Tim looks down his body and screws his nose up at the come on his clothing. “You owe me a shirt.”

“I’ll give you anything you want after that, baby.” Jason purrs, leaning in to steal another quick kiss. Tim smirks against his lips and pulls back first.

“I want a latte.”

“Right now?”

“Preferably.” Tim leans off the seat to pick up his underwear and jeans and awkwardly works them back onto his body. Jason chuckles and watches as Tim leans on his shoulders and shimmies the clothing back on.

“It’s pretty late.” Jason notes and Tim shrugs and climbs back into the front seat once he has his pants buttoned up.

“And I want a latte.”

“Only if I get to sleep in your bed tonight.” Jason makes a small sound of strain as he pulls himself back into the driver’s seat. His bulk makes the movement harder than it was for Tim’s small nimble frame. Tim can’t help but smile at how awkward Jason’s movements can be in confined spaces. Dick moved with grace no matter what, Tim was pretty good at that too, and Damian didn’t move to impress so there was nothing intentionally graceful when he moved. Jason could almost match Dick on good days out on the rooftops, but you put him in a tight spot and he’s all long limbs and muscle trying to move between a rock and a hard place. It’s adorable in Tim’s eyes.

“I think it’s big enough for you and your luggage to join.”

“You really know how to bruise an ego Timmy.” Jason pouts and Tim instinctively leans over and kisses it off Jason’s face. It works, when he pulls back Jason’s smiling softly.

“Get me my coffee and I’ll stop being so bitter.”

“God, if one day someone could thank me for the great sex I provide that’d be good.”

“Stop sleeping around and maybe someone might.”

“I haven’t slept around in years, Timbers, I just have an exception.” Jason turns the engine on with a smirk on his lips and puts the car in gear. Tim doesn’t know what to say to that. Jason was his exception too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	8. Bedfellows

It’s close to two in the morning when the duo return to the manor. It would have been sooner, but Jason insisted that instead of getting their drinks to go they sit in the back of the McDonalds and talk some more while they drank them. Which Tim was fine with, especially when Jason squished himself into the corner of the booth and grabbed Tim’s legs and put them over his own, keeping his hand on Tim’s thigh. They also would have been back sooner if Jason hadn’t dragged Tim off to the bathroom afterwards and blown him. Tim was fine with that too.

They would have had to sneak through the manor had they used the front door, because honestly the place was getting old and some of the floorboards and most of the stairs creaked and squeaked. So they scaled the outside of the building, years of practice making it easy for them to do even if they’d been drunk and blindfolded. They make it into Tim’s room easy and before Tim can even make a move toward his bed Jason’s grabbing hold of his hand and saying they should shower. Tim agrees only after a second of hesitation.

It’s almost two thirty once they’re in Tim’s bed because Jason really couldn’t keep his hands off of Tim, and Tim had expected as much when Jason had said they shower that the main purpose wasn’t to clean themselves at all. Tired, satisfied and still a little buzzed they climb into bed, Tim flopping down on his stomach and face planting into his pillow with a happy groan. Jason crawls in after him and drapes his larger body half over Tim’s so that he doesn’t squash him, but he’s covering as much of Tim’s body as he can.

“I hate you.” Tim groans and Jason chuckles and kisses the side of his head.

“Why?”

“I have work tomorrow.”

“You’ve gone to work on fewer hours’ sleep Babybird, don’t act like I’ve actually made your sleeping schedule worse. In fact, you’re in bed early.” Jason hums against Tim’s shoulder. Tim knows he’s right but he doesn’t want to admit it so he just grumbles some more. “Besides, you enjoyed tonight.”

Tim smiles softly, the act being hidden in his pillowcase. “I did. It was the best night in a long time.” He turns his head and looks up at Jason still smiling. “Thank you, Jay.”

“It was my pleasure Timbers.” Jason mumbles, his eyes falling closed as he cuddles further into Tim’s body.

Jason was a night owl once, much like Tim, except he slept during the day where Tim almost never slept. Being a Robin and the Red Hood, the night was Jason’s friend, as it’s come to be all of theirs. But now that Jason didn’t do that, he had a reasonable sleeping schedule. He was probably the only person who lived under this roof that did, and Michael, because he had college, but Tim expected that would change once he was finished. So the fact that Jason’s only just starting to show signs of fatigue is a surprise. Tim expects he’s exhausted after today.

“I love you.” Tim whispers and Jason smiles, a tired but true smile. It’s the love that’s always been there, between boys that were meant to be brothers and men who accepted the fact they never would be.

“I know, I’m easy to love.”

“Easier than Damian at least.” Tim hums and Jason chuckles.

“He’s still a kid Tim, he doesn’t believe in love.”

“Maybe one day he will. And he in no way is still a kid, Jay.” Tim points out and Jason makes a shushing noise.

“He’s not allowed to grow up.” Jason whines a little and Tim couldn’t stop smiling if he tried. Jason wasn’t and never will be a monster. He was a kid who was forced to grow up too fast, and it showed through in times like this when that childish side came out.

“Like Mike?” Tim asks in a soft, low voice because he can tell Jason’s close to falling asleep at this stage.

“Like Mike.”

They fall silent for a minute, long enough for Jason to drift off into sleep and for Tim to start to really feel his body fighting to grasp those few hours’ rest before he has to be up in the morning for work. He double-checks his phone to make sure that his alarms are set and that it’s plugged in to charge so that he isn’t late again. He apologises to Jason in advance for the awakening he’s going to get when they go off in the morning and makes a mental note to just sit there and let Jason fall back asleep in his bed before he goes in the morning. He curls himself into Jason’s chest and kisses the corner of his mouth softly before he lets sleep take hold of him.

\- - -

Naturally, Jason nearly jumps out of his skin when Tim’s alarm goes off at seven, which is a little late, but Tim knows he can get into the office on time for his meeting, it just means no extra work before it. That’s what the rest of the day will be for. Tim turns off the alarm and sits up, stroking Jason’s hair and back softly.

“Go back to sleep Jaybird.” Tim whispers and Jason makes a small whining sound before he groans and turns his head to look up to Tim.

“Wan kiss.” Jason slurs, already half asleep again. Tim smiles softly and leans down awkwardly, pressing a chaste kiss to Jason’s lips. A minute later and Jason’s back asleep, small, almost silent snores escaping his open mouth. Tim stays sat there petting Jason for a few more minutes before he carefully gets himself out of bed and changes into his work clothes.

He shuffles down the stairs and into the kitchen. It’s Tuesday, meaning morning lecture for Michael, so he’s already making his way out the door and Damian’s close behind him. Bruce should be up too but he’s not in the kitchen. Dick is, though,  but he’s head first in the fridge on the phone. Tim shuffles past and starts up the coffee machine like always. He debates between toast and cereal before he opts against both and looks about for an apple and cinnamon roll that he knows they have. Alfred’s always making them for him and Michael. He curses Jason in his mind for getting him the one he did yesterday because now he’ll be wanting them all week.

Dick finally seems to realise he isn’t the only one in the kitchen and pokes his head out of the fridge. He looks around for a moment before he locates Tim leaning against the counter next to the coffee machine eating his bun. Dick smiles widely and closes the fridge after he grabs the milk and some raspberries.

“Hey babe, I’ll call you back.” He puts the things on the counter next to the fridge and tells -obviously or presumably- Wally that he loves him before hanging up. He slides across the floor in his socks and nudges Tim’s side.

“Sooooo.” His smile is wide and full and nothing short of giddy. Tim raises an eyebrow and continues to chew his mouthful. “What happened last night?”

“Good morning to you too.” Tim says after he’s swallowed. Dick rolls his eyes and pokes Tim’s side.

“You two were out all night, what happened? What’d you do? Where’d he take you?”

“Why’re you full of questions?” Tim counters as he turns back to the coffee machine and pours himself a cup.

“Because you, like, never let that sort of stuff happen.” Dick keeps poking Tim’s side and despite how much it’s annoying, it tickles a little and Tim can’t help but smile and try and bend himself away from Dick’s prodding.

“Okay okay, I’ll tell you if you stop poking me.” Tim chuckles lightly and shoves Dick’s hand away from his side. Dick crosses his arms over his chest and gives Tim an expecting look. Tim points to the milk on the counter and Dick waves it off.

“We went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant and afterwards we sat around for a bit and talked. Then I said I wanted a latte and so we went to McDonalds and Jason took forever deciding what he wanted. Like, seriously, he took at least five minutes before just getting a mocha frappe and then he complained about how cold it was and so after he got an espresso and me another latte and we spent ages sat in a booth talking. Like that was it, Dick, we just talked.”

“’Talked’.” Dick makes quotation marks with his fingers when he says it and Tim rolls his eyes and sips his coffee, but Dick can see his smile around his cup.

“Which car did you take? Did you clean the seats?”

“Shut up Dick.”

“Sometimes I even miss it, y’know.” Dick mumbles and Tim fumbles with his cup.

“What’s not to miss.” Tim shrugs before he pushes off the counter and moves across the kitchen. He opens up a cupboard and goes to grab his pills but stops short.

Something in his mind says he should but his gut twists weirdly at the thought. He doesn’t know what it’ll do if those low chances weren’t actually low. He should, but he doesn’t. Instead, he grabs only the vitamin tablets he doesn’t really need to take and has one. Dick’s leaning against the kitchen island eating his cereal that he whipped up in that time, watching Tim with a sideways smile.

“Kon gets back today yeah?” Dick asks and Tim tenses a little. He nearly forgot. He takes in a shaky breath and closes his eyes, repeating in his mind that he won’t find out or know about last night.

“Yeah.”

“You gonna tell him?”

“Are you crazy?” Tim asks a little too sharply. Dick pauses for a moment before he shrugs and goes back to eating. Tim’s stomach really feels weird now.

“So, you don’t want him to find out?” Dick asks and Tim wants to smack him.

“Dick, you can’t tell him.”

“I wasn’t going to. I’ll just make sure Jason isn’t still in your bed if he shows up here.” Dick assures and Tim lets out a deep sigh and rubs his hands over his face.

“Thank you.”

“Honestly, I’m not that much of a dick.” Dick stands up straighter and walks off with his half-finished bowl of cereal. Tim feels a little bad for accusing Dick of something like that.

Dick likes to know a lot, likes being kept in the loop with everything because he feels like if he knows everything, he’ll be able to look after everyone. Dick’s never run his mouth, Tim can trust him and he knows it. He’ll have to make it up to him later for being an asshole about it. Right now, work. Focus on that and not the fact that Kon will probably be back by the time he gets home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	9. Pick your poison

Tim realises on his way home how much he actually hates going to meetings and dealing with rich corporate assholes. When he works so much he tends to forget that he actually dislikes what he does. But when he takes his time and works at a normal human pace he realises how shit it is. Rachel’s good company, keeping his mind a little distracted by asking him about his night. She goes on to complain about how her kids were a nightmare this morning while she was trying to get them ready for school and how they nearly made her late. It keeps him distracted enough. He thanks her for it, and she just smiles, saying he should go home a few hours early, just because he didn’t actually need to still be in the office at all.

He distracts himself some more on his way home when he takes a detour to the bakery and gets himself another goddamn apple and cinnamon roll with a latte. Stupid Jason.

The first person he comes across when he gets home is actually Bruce, stood in the hallway on the phone having a very heated discussion. As Tim gets closer and passes by him, he hears Damian’s distinct voice coming through the line. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head as he passes by. They’ll never change.

“Tim. Just hold on, Damian.” Bruce almost grumbles and Tim stops walking, turning his head a little to show he’s listening. “Two things. Jason wanted to make sure you went down to the cave as soon as possible because he has something he needs to talk to you about. Also, Kon’s somewhere around.” And just like that, he’s back to bickering with Damian.

Tim sucks in a little breath and looks down the hall. He was gonna go get changed first but he decides against it and heads straight over to get to the cave instead. He tries to tell himself it’ll be alright and that maybe he can hide away in the cave with Jason for a little before he has to go and face Kon. He heads straight to the computer, a good starting point.

“Jay?” He calls out when he finds that Jason, in fact, isn’t there.

“Over here, pretty bird.” Jason’s reply is a little muffled and when Tim turns around he finds Jason and Michael at Jason’s ‘new’ bike, the one he let Michael have when he became Red Hood because he couldn’t let go of the old one he’d had from the start.

They’re both a little dirty and Jason has a screwdriver hanging out of his mouth. Tim moves over and works his hands into his pockets. Jason looks up at him and raises an eyebrow. He removes the screwdriver from his mouth and points it at Tim’s body.

“You really wanna get that dirty?” He asks and Michael chuckles. Tim rolls his eyes and gives Jason a deadpan kind of look.

“Bruce said you wanted me down here, not what I was gonna be doing.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to stay in your rich boy clothes.” Jason hums and Michael chuckles some more and looks up from the bike to give Tim a small smile.

“He’s good with details.” He notes and Tim returns his smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m well aware.”

“Go get changed then come back down here, please.” Jason’s concentration is more on the bike then Tim.

“Can I know why you need me?”

“In Dad’s words, we need your brains.” Michael offers and Tim cocks his hip a little.

“Sure okay. I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks, Timmy.” Jason says it in a sing-song voice that makes Tim smile softly to himself as he heads back up into the manor. He’s not at all surprised that Kon’s in his room, laying on his bed looking through some of his books.

“Hey.” He smiles softly and Kon looks up at him and the smile he gives Tim is real. He sits himself up and opens his arms and Tim naturally sits against his body when Kon pulls him down into him.

“Hey baby, how’re you?”

“I’m pretty good, yourself?” Tim hums, petting Kon’s hair. It was always so soft, Tim envied that.

“Better now.” Kon looks up to Tim and pulls him down for a soft kiss. Tim melts into it, the taste and feel of Kon’s lips on his own was something so familiar and almost perfect.

“How’d it all go with Clark and Jon?” Tim asks when they pull back and Kon makes a small sound of annoyance.

“A big waste of time, if you ask me. What about your weekend?”

“The gala was boring as usual. Nothing much else happened.” Tim lies. Kon doesn’t have to know about Jason taking him out last night.

“Plans for tonight?”

“Patrol, haven’t gone in a while now so I need to go out. Jason wants me down in the cave to help him and Michael out with whatever they’re doing to that bike.” Tim shuffles out of Kon’s arms and starts to undress.

Kon watches him without moving or saying anything for a moment. Tim pauses with taking his shirt off for a second before he unbuttons it enough to pull it off over his head. Kon doesn’t say anything at the sight of the still very dark bruise on Tim’s abdomen. Once Tim’s fully dressed again in older clothes he’s worn to help out with dirty activities, Kon stands up and walks over to him and takes hold of his hips. They stare at each other for a moment before Kon leans his forehead against Tim’s.

“I’m sorry, Tim.”

“It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean it.” Tim forces himself not to bite his bottom lip.

“I’ll make it up to you, okay?”

“Okay. But later, I’ve gotta get down there.” He pulls back from Kon and goes to walk off but he stops himself. He offers Kon a small smile and holds out his hand. “Wanna come with?”

“Sure.” He knows he shouldn’t take Kon with him because Jason and Michael are the two people who know that Kon hit Tim, and he’s not sure how this will play out.

He hopes Jason doesn’t snap or get snarky and that Michael doesn’t say anything. The two of them were alike in the way that they’d openly talk shit and say nasty things in front of your face until you snapped to prove a point. It worked all the time, and Tim was scared that they’d do that and Kon would react the way Tim knows he would, violently. He can only hope that doesn’t happen.

They get down to the cave and Jason’s laying on his back with a part in his hands above his head fiddling with it while Michael works on a bit of the body. Jason’s asking Michael about what he did in class today and what he plans to do tomorrow because he has Wednesday free.

“I’m probably gonna go into town with Ben, he said he wants to go do something, won’t say what.”

“Illegal?” Jason asks. Ben wasn’t a bad kid from what Tim’s seen of him, but he can get into some bad shit. Nothing serious really, mainly getting into places that are run down and falling apart that need rebuilding so he can just hang out and just mess around, play with his life a little really. Graffiti was another thing, but it wasn’t bad. And the occasional drugs when his old man leaves him some, sometimes using those abandoned buildings to meet up with suppliers for his folks. Jason trusts Michael to be the better person and make the right choices if it comes down to it.

“Probably.” Michael sighs and Jason hums low in his throat and doesn’t say anything else about it.

“Besides that?”

“Not sure. I might stay over his, depending on what happens.”

“Try not to get into too much trouble.”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Michael shakes his head with a chuckle. Tim steps up to Jason and rests his hands on his hips and looks down at him with a sideways smirk.

“So, what is it you need me to do?” He asks and Jason holds up the part he had been fiddling with.

“Help.” He states like a small child who hasn’t quite grasped proper communication skills might ask. Tim drops down to his butt and takes the piece from Jason and looks it over. Jason sits himself up and leans into Tim’s side and starts going over what it is that needs to happen with the piece. Kon sits to the side and says nothing as he watches them. Tim’s relieved that he does.

\- - -

Tim didn’t expect them to be finished by the time dinner was ready, and he knows that there’ll be a lot more days of him spending a few hours after work helping Jason work on the bike. Michael’s still learning, so he sits aside and watches a lot, helps out when he can and provides conversation when he’s not asking questions. It’s nice being able to work with them. Tim almost forgot Kon was down there a few times throughout the afternoon. The three of them head off to clean up, and even though there’s more than one bathroom or area for them to wash up in, the three of them fight over the one because they’re all pathetic children.

Dinner is as Tim’s always remembered it and the same way it was Sunday, with the conversation being loud and full. Damian grumbles about things and Jason boasts about this and that. There’s always the whole talk of when Dick’s gonna move out with Wally, or when Jason’s gonna find something more useful with his life than basically being an unpaid mechanic. Tim listens a lot to what’s being said, doesn’t say much himself. He’s fully aware of Kon being there beside him, if the hand on his thigh wasn’t a constant reminder of his presences.

After dinner is over and they’ve all done their bit to help clean up, Dick suggests that instead of going out on patrol, they watch a movie. Naturally, Bruce says he won’t be watching it and goes off to do whatever it is he plans on doing until he goes out on patrol himself. It’s not because he doesn’t want to watch it, but because he likes making sure the ‘kids’ have their own time with each other. Everyone’s okay with it, though Dick will make a point of making sure Bruce really doesn’t want to join in. Dick chooses the movie because everyone else can never come to a decision and it’s just easier to put up with whatever he puts on.

It’s not always bad movies, but tonight he can’t choose between Just _Go With It_ and _The Back-Up Plan_. Damian puts up a fuss about Adam Sandler’s horrible movies and so they’re stuck with _The Back-Up Plan_. Neither option was good in Tim’s mind. Jason gestures for Tim to come sit next to him and even though Kon has hold of his hand he goes over and lets Jason pull him into his side. Kon seems to hesitate for a moment before he sits himself down next to Tim. He tries to ignore it but it’s hard to with Kon’s hand squeezing his own. Jason can feel how tense Tim is and he rubs his arm lightly and looks over to Kon.

“Sorry about stealing your boy, but Tim’s always been my snuggle buddy on movie nights.” Jason flashes Kon a charming smile, and maybe to Kon, it looks real, but Tim knows it’d forced and fake. Kon’s hand stops squeezing Tim’s as hard as it had been. “Besides, you get to canoodle him almost every night.”

“Shut up, Jason.” Tim mumbles and Jason knows he says it like he’s embarrassed for everyone else to be thinking about _that_ , but he’s really meaning it because he doesn’t want Jason getting them or himself in trouble with Kon. Jason hugs Tim tighter to his side.

“It’s not like we don’t know Timbers.”

“Please, oh my god.” Tim buries his face in Jason’s chest like he was embarrassed. He’s not and it gives him a chance to kiss the base of Jason’s neck when he lifts his head back up. “You’re annoying.”

“I try.”

“Shut up both of you, the movies starting.” Dick complains and Jason rolls his eyes and sinks further into the couch, forcing Tim to follow the movement of his body. Kon’s hand finally lets go of his own and he spares a glance over in Kon’s direction and mouths ‘sorry’ to him. Kon shrugs and looks back to the TV, so Tim does the same. He catches the glimmer of Jason’s smirk as he bites it away.

\- - -

Once the movie is finished Dick admits how bad it was and Damian moans about how somehow, _Just Go With It_ is actually better. Tim’s half asleep and Jason had fallen into that trap halfway through the movie. Tim liked the feeling of Jason’s chest rising and falling against the side of his head and the small breaths that fanned over his hair as Jason silently snored. Michael was asleep too, curled up in his spot like a cat and sleeping contently. Like father like son. Tim tries to pry himself from Jason’s grasp now that the movie was over but Jason’s grip on him tightens and he mumbles something that doesn’t even sound like babbled English. Tim watches him for a minute before he starts poking his chest and telling him to let go.

“Just shove him off the couch, it’ll be more productive.” Damian smirks and Tim rolls his eyes and looks over at him.

“This is why you’re not his snuggle buddy.”

“I have no intention to snuggle him.” Damian counters and Dick makes a small sound of disappointment.

“I wouldn’t shove him, why can’t I be his snuggle buddy?”

“You wriggle too much.” Tim shrugs and Dick makes a noise of sad agreement. Damian tuts and shakes his head.

“Why do you even want Todd’s affection?”

“Who doesn’t want his affection?” Dick asks with a raised eyebrow and gestures toward Jason. “I mean he’s like a big cuddly teddy bear.”

“Teddy bears do not have a grip like Jason does.” Tim mentions, still trying to escape his grasp. He doesn’t really want to wake him, but it looks like that’s where this is going to end up. Jason always looked his calmest and softest -that was the only word that seemed to fit- when he was sleeping. Tim hated having to drag him away from that.

“He’s the best kind of teddy.” Dick throws back and Tim doesn’t want to disagree because cuddling with Jason was always good.

“Honestly, I don’t see what’s so good about him.” Damian shrugs.

“You and me both.” Kon mumbles and Tim tries not to get nasty about it. Sure, Kon didn’t always get along with Jason but before he’d found out about Kon hurting Tim, Jason liked Kon. Because as far as he’d known, Kon made Tim happy and loved him the way he should. Now though, Tim knew Jason didn’t respect him in the slightest. He doesn’t blame him either.

“You guys just can’t appreciate a good thing.” Dick announces and Tim doesn’t understand how he’s the oldest of them. He acted like a child anytime there wasn’t something or someone at risk.

“Sure Grayson.” Damian waves him off and stands up, stretching his arms above his head and standing on his toes as a yawn escapes past his lips. Tim stops paying attention to whatever Dick has to say to him about that or where they’re taking that conversation. Instead, he turns back to Jason and pokes at him some more.

“Jay.” He tries a little louder than before. Still, Jason doesn’t wake but he starts to squirm a little and Tim uses that to his advantage and manages to get himself out of Jason’s grip. Not that he wants to be, but he can’t stay here on the couch with Jason when Kon’s staying over.

Jason makes a small moaning noise and Tim has to try really hard to ignore it. It causes Dick to chuckle and Damian tuts again. “Wanna bet he’s dreaming about Harper?”

“Maybe.” Dick hums, but he’s looking at Tim when he says it. Tim shoots him a glare and gets up, holding his hand out for Kon to take.

“Night guys.” Tim mumbles and they mumble back their replies. Tim wants to kiss Jason again but he’s able to lead Kon from the room without incident.

They make it up to his room and Tim lets out a soft sigh once he’s closed the door and starts to strip off his clothes. He should shower, but he’ll just worry about it in the morning. Kon moves up behind him when he’s only in his underwear and grabs hold of his hips. He leans into Tim’s smaller frame and kisses the back of his neck and over his shoulder. Tim hums lightly at the feeling of his soft lips on his skin, letting his eyes fall closed.

“I honestly thought that movie was never going to end.” Kon mumbles against Tim’s shoulder, running his hands up Tim’s front. Tim keeps his hands at his sides and his eyes closed, letting Kon do as he wants.

“It was pretty bad.” Tim agrees and Kon runs his hands back down to Tim’s waist, pressing them into his pelvis.

“All I wanted to do was just drag you away and forget about it. Probably would have if Jason wasn’t holding onto you.” He puts a bit of a growl in his voice, because he knows it gets to Tim in all the best ways.

“Sorry.” Tim doesn’t actually feel that bad about it. He enjoyed tonight, being able to listen to Damian complain about the movie and Dick trying to insist it was good, Jason’s banter when he was awake and the way Michael fitted in with them. He’s a lot like they were as kids, mainly a mix of Jason and Dick, but he could easily seem like Damian and even Tim if he wanted to. He fitted in like he was one of them like he was a Robin when he’d been a kid.

“I have an idea of what you could do to make up for it.” Kon purrs. It’s not as smooth as the way Jason purrs, doesn’t sound quite right. Tim bites his bottom lip and tries to think of a reason why he’d want to say no. In all honesty, he’s tired and he wants to get some good sleep to make up for how crap his sleep had been last night. That’s about it because he does want Kon, he’s missed him and he doesn’t want to latch onto Jason.

“Oh yeah?” Tim asks in a suggestive tone, turning his head a little like he could actually turn enough to look at Kon without moving his body. Kon hums and pushes himself harder against Tim’s back.

“Get on that bed and I’ll tell you what I have in mind.” He whispers, moving his hands from Tim’s front to his back to push him away from his body lightly. Tim follows the movement and strides to his bed and crawls up the centre of it. But the time he turns back to face Kon and lays on his back, Kon’s undressed himself completely and is crawling up over Tim’s smaller frame. Tim bites his lip again and takes a moment to let his knees part and his legs fall open for Kon to crawl between them.

Somewhere in the back of his head, a voice says no, that it was bad enough that he let Jason have him when he knew he hadn’t had his pill. He’d missed it two days now and if by some sort of miracle Jason hadn’t been successful, he was tempting fate by letting Kon do the same. But he ignores it, pushes the thought aside as he reaches up and pulls Kon down by the back of his neck to kiss him forcefully and fully. And the voices go completely the moment Kon literally rips his underwear from his body and his hand is back on his body.

\- - -

The next morning Tim hesitates for a good minute in the kitchen with his coffee cup clasped tightly between his palms. The cups a little hot, enough that his mind tells him it’ll hurt if he holds onto it for too long, but he has other things on his mind. He watches the cupboard with all of the vitamin and pain tablets, all the drugs they have for everyday things. He knows he should, he needs to be taking those pills for his own sake, for the sake of them all. But he can’t, not now, it doesn’t feel right to. He snaps out of his staring contest with the cupboard and looks around the room. Still, no one was there yet. His hand twitches around his cup for a moment, the urge to touch, just because. He suppresses it and manages to push himself off the counter and move on.

He decides on his drive to work that he’ll wait a week. He’ll make sure he keeps himself busy enough that Kon won’t be able to get him away to have his way with him and that he won’t let Jason get to him. He needs to get his head on straight and figure this out before he messes everything up. He realises then that if things start to spiral out of control, it’ll be Monday he finds out, Monday when he’ll be talking to Bruce. Looks like that meeting will be more than just talk about his workload if things don’t go so smooth for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	10. A game of trust

Tim’s good at working things out. He’s usually smart, is undoubtedly the most educated of the Robins. He’s a smartass and he knows it; likes to boast about it when he’s the only one to figure something out, when he gets it so right, when he outsmarts Bruce. Maybe this was karma, maybe this was the world saying, ‘hey smartass, figure this one out’. He’s able to keep to his goal of making himself too busy to have time to indulge in anything at night, not that that was a hard thing to do. And any time that he did manage to gain he got himself out on patrol for unnecessary lengths of time, just to be sure.

When it comes to Monday, Tim doesn’t want to get out of bed. Kon didn’t stay over the night before, which helped him. He’d actually gone to bed early, very early for his standards. But he couldn’t sleep. He was restless, every time he closed his eyes they’d force themselves back open. He tossed and turned. By the time he actually fell asleep, it was a normal night of sleep for him, too little hours and finding himself uncomfortable even while he was out.

He only has to be in the office today to see Bruce, but he knows that Bruce can’t wait around for him all day, he’s busy enough himself as it is. So Tim forces himself to climb out of bed and dress a little nice without being too fancy. He almost skips breakfast and even considers opting out on having a coffee. But he manages to not give in to the temptation to skip. And not for the first time that week does he fight with himself as to if he should take his pills or not.

It takes a long while for him to psych himself up enough to actually head back upstairs and even longer to get himself into the bathroom. He feels sick to the stomach with nervousness and despite his better judgement, he takes three tests instead of one, just in case. He’s not sure what he’s hoping for anymore. At first, he didn’t want to admit to himself that maybe he’d fucked up. But then he thought about it a little more and he was just as scared as he was excited. He just didn’t know what he’d do if his thoughts were right.

His hand idly rest against the bottom of his stomach as he waits. He can’t help it. He knows it’s stupid and pointless but he just feels a little better about it. He worries his bottom lip between his teeth roughly, enough that eventually the skin starts to split, but he doesn’t bite it anymore after that and he doesn’t bleed. He waits a little longer then he knows he has to before he checks them. He doesn’t know what he’s hoping for, but he’s hoping.

\- - -

Jason’s sat in the kitchen when Tim leaves to go see Bruce, though Tim doesn’t know that because he was in such a panicked rush to get out of the manor. Jason saw him leave, hadn’t seen him look like such a mess in a long time. But he’s not fast enough getting up and running after him to find out what’s wrong, to see if he’s okay. He pauses for a moment and tries to think about what to do. He knows Tim’s going to go see Bruce today, but there’s no reason for him to be in such a hurry, for him to be as freaked out as he was. And if he really thinks about it, Tim’s been acting weird since Tuesday. That makes Jason feel even worse about the situation. Because Kon got back Tuesday, because he knows for a fact that Tim and Kon had sex that night, and he knows that there’s stuff Tim won’t tell him about Kon. He knows that that bruise he saw on Tim’s stomach, that one-time hit from Kon isn’t a one-time thing and that it isn’t the first.

Against his better judgement, he ends up heading upstairs and to Tim’s room. He knows Kon isn’t there, he knows he probably won’t find anything, but he just needs to check, make sure that there’s nothing for him to be worrying about. What he hopes not to find is anything that makes it look like Tim’s been trying to hide something or fix himself up. Anything close to something like that. He just wants Tim to be okay, he wants to be able to not worry about him.

He’s relieved but still on nerve when he finds that nothing looks out of the ordinary. He doesn’t find anything in Tim’s room that looks close to what he was dreading. He goes far enough to check a few cupboards and drawers too, not too thoroughly though because he doesn’t want to invade Tim’s privacy, no matter how much he worries. He goes to stop there, thinks maybe there was nothing to be worrying about in the first place. But then he has a thought if he was going to have anything like that it’s more likely to be somewhere a little less obvious yet still highly likely, like a bathroom. So he checks there, even though he feels like maybe there’s no point and he feels a little bad for snooping now.

As soon as he opens the door and takes a quick look around he instantly feels like just walking out, because he has no reason to be sneaking around and looking through there. He could just text or call Tim and ask him, remind him that if he needs to talk to him about anything. But he can’t help it, he goes in and he looks around like he knows he doesn’t need to. At first, he thinks, there’s nothing, he was just wasting his time and worrying for nothing. Something in the bin under the basin catches his attention. Something with pink. For a moment he thinks maybe it’s red, maybe it’s blood and he swallows thickly and pulls the bin out and takes in what it is. He never thought he’d find what he had and when he pulls them out and as he checks them a little more worry sets in.

He never thought he’d find two pregnancy tests showing positive in Tim’s bathroom. He couldn’t believe that Tim had knocked someone up, that wasn’t Tim.

\- - -

Bruce looked like he’d never been more stuck on what to do in a situation in his entire life. Tim was ready to panic, fully. Because he hadn’t quite reached that stage yet. Bruce looks him up and down before he looks to the test in his hand.

“You’re… sure?” Bruce asks again for what felt like the hundredth time. Tim groans and drops himself into the chair across from Bruce rather than continuing his pacing in front of the desk.

“Yes! I took three tests Bruce, what else do you want? I missed taking my pill because of the rush I was in and then… fuck.” Tim buries his face in his hands. “The worst thing I did was let Kon fuck me afterwards.”

“Not the fact that you let Jason?” Bruce asks, tilting his head a little. Tim pauses for a moment and bites his bottom lip.

“I meant like… because Jason already had. Now I don’t know whose it is.” Tim tries to save himself a little. He takes a minute of staring at the test in Bruce’s hands before he finally looks back up to him.

“So what do you plan on doing, Tim?” Bruce doesn’t really seem to be too worried, which is making Tim worry and stress more. How could he be so calm?

“I don’t know! Why do you think I’m here Bruce? I… I don’t know what to do, what to think, fuck this is… I’m fucking better than this, I don’t go making mistakes like this.” Tim sighs and lets his head fall into his hands again.

“Well, sorry to say Tim, it’s happened and you have to make a choice.”

“But I…”

“I’m not saying right now, I’m not saying today, or this week. But the sooner the better, you know that. The longer you leave this the worse it’ll be. You need to get yourself together and alone and think about this long and hard.” Bruce sits up straighter before he leans forward in his seat and rests his hands on the desk. When Tim drops his hands back down he reaches out and places his on Tim’s wrist. Tim watches his hand for a long moment before he finally looks back up to Bruce.

“C’mon, I’ll take you home and you can have the day to think about it. And if you don’t want to, you’re at home to do whatever you want to keep it off your mind.”

“But, you have work-”

“No. I have something more important.” Bruce doesn’t do this a lot, show this side of himself. It’s not because he wants to pretend it isn’t there or act like he doesn’t care or anything like that. He knows he has to be strong for them, they’ve all come from bad places and had bad things happen. He needs to be there as someone to ground them all, someone for them to go to.

“A-are you sure?”

“Yes, Tim.” Bruce offers him a soft smile and it makes Tim feel a little better about it all. “I’ll have the car you brought here dropped off.”

They both stand up after a small pause and Bruce leads the way out his office and down into the carpark. Tim keeps his arms pulled into himself, making his already small frame so much smaller with how withdrawn he is. They don’t say much on the drive home. There’s not much to say and Tim’s too consumed in his own thoughts to really have anything else to say.

\- - -

Jason should have known better. The last thing he should have done was tell Dick. But to be fair, telling Kon would have so much higher on the ‘things you shouldn’t do’ list. Dick doesn’t believe him, of course. Even after he shows him the tests.

“Jason, you can’t be serious.” Dick rolls his eyes and Jason grits his teeth.

“Look it sounds bad, but it would’ve been an accident.”

“Tim doesn’t sleep around, Jason. You of all people should know that best.” Dick hisses and Jason huffs.

“Yeah, okay, but c’mon, who else could they belong to, Dick?” Jason asks and Dick looks like he wants to say something back but falls short. He chews the inside of his cheek and looks at the tests in Jason’s hand again.

“Okay but even if he did, Tim’s too smart to let something like this happen.” Dick spits, and Jason can understand why he’s a little frustrated, but he doesn’t need to start getting snarky.

Whatever Jason was going to say immediately escapes him when he hears someone in the hallway. Jason acts on impulse to hide the tests in his hand and against his side. Bruce is standing in the doorway and next to him is Tim, pulled in on himself and looking smaller than he’s ever been. Tim looks pale and within a heartbeat, he’s turning and rushing from the room.

 _Stupid_ , _so so stupid!_ He should’ve known not to leave the other two tests where they could be found. He isn’t sure if he’s more scared Jason found them or angry. He knows they’re not instantly going to put it on him, they’re not going to think he’s pregnant. No, they think he’s knocked someone up, and the worst-case scenario, they’ve told Kon.

Tim knows he’s a chicken, a coward for running away like he did. But he’s scared, he needed time to think, he needed to figure it all out before anyone was to find out, if anyone was even going to find out. Now he didn’t know what to do with himself. He shuts the door behind him and decides not to lock the door after a minute of wanting to. He slides down the wall beside it and curls up on himself and bites into his thumb. Now what was he going to do?

\- - -

Bruce didn’t know if going after Tim or sorting out the situation with Dick and Jason would be better. On the one hand, Tim might want to be left alone for a moment, with how stressed out he’d been over the situation in the first place and now this. But despite it all, it’s not his place to explain this to Jason and Dick without him being there. He doesn’t really get to make that choice for himself when Dick snatches the tests from Jason’s hand and holds them up like Bruce hadn’t seen them.

“It’s not true, is it? Tim’s smart, he wouldn’t let something like this happen.” Dick sounds like he’s out of breath and close to having his own breakdown.

“You’re right, Tim is smart. But sometimes the people around you aren’t.” Bruce can’t help that he eyes Jason a little. Jason doesn’t notice, Bruce can see that his minds working overtime too, that he’s trying to piece together how and when this would have happened.

“What do you mean by that?” Dick tries to keep his voice level. Bruce pauses for a moment before he holds his hand out. Dick doesn’t respond for a moment before he drops the tests into Bruce’s hand.

“This stays between you two. As it is it was none of your business in the first place. You shouldn’t have been snooping, Jason.”

“I was worried, Bruce. He’s been acting weird all week, and then he ran out this morning like someone was gonna die if he was a second late getting out of here.”

“I know you worry, Jason. I know you care. But did you even think about it for a second that you knew you weren’t meant to know about this, and you went and told Dick? Tim trusts you more then he trusts me, and today you broke that trust, twice.” Bruce knows what he’s saying is going to make Jason feel like shit, like an asshole but he also knows it has to be said. Jason should have known better, he should have known at the least that if he was going to go snooping, which he shouldn’t have anyway, that what he found wasn’t to go past him.

“So what, this is just a secret now? We deserve to know, all of us.” Dick’s not angry, he’s frustrated and Bruce can understand that. They were all past secrets at this point, mostly.

“This isn’t something for me to be discussing with you. Tim’s the one who needs to talk to you about it. Don’t go to him, let him come to you. It’s not my place.” Bruce turns without letting them ask any more questions and walks off.

He knows they want to know, maybe they have a right to know, but from the beginning, Tim begged and pleaded that this never went past Bruce. It was the one secret Tim was ready to die with, the one thing he never wanted anyone to know about. He makes his way past Tim’s room and hesitates outside the door. He knows Tim doesn’t want to be talking to anyone right now, but he needs to be -at the least- a supportive father. He taps his knuckles lightly on the door.

“It’s just me, Tim. I told them not to try and confront you about this, and that they’re not to tell anyone or ask questions. You will have to talk to them eventually, but when you’re ready, in your own time. You know where I am if you need me.” And with that, he walks off and leaves Tim be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	11. Fear over rage

To say that Jason doesn’t want to at the least kick himself and at most smash his face in is an understatement. He knows the way Bruce talks, the way he says things to guilt you when you already know you’re in the wrong. But he also knew Bruce was right about breaking Tim’s trust. Whether Tim really trusts him more than Bruce he doesn’t know, but it hurt, hearing someone who wasn’t the voice in his head tell him he’d broken someone’s trust. He should have known better, he did know better, but he was always bad at keeping things to himself after the Joker and especially after he gave up being Red Hood. He’d lived his whole life in distrust, keeping things from others and it ended up costing him his life. So, of course, he strove to change that once his mind was back together because he knew that if he wanted his family to trust him, he had to trust them. Secrets broke that trust, so he avoided keeping them.

He and Dick stay where they were stood in the room for a long while after Bruce left. They didn’t look at each other and they didn’t say anything. But eventually, Dick walked out and Jason did the same not a few minutes later. He heads down into the cave and sits around for a long time, lost in his own thoughts. He doesn’t really notice Damian come and go, doesn’t notice when he comes back again and stands a few feet away watching him.

“Jason?” Damian finally calls out and he snaps out of his thoughts and averts his eyes toward the younger. He doesn’t say anything though and Damian walks over, looking him up and down. “Are you alright?”

“Tired. Feeling a little shitty. I might be coming down with something.” Jason lies. Damian eyes him up for a moment before he leans against the console and crosses his arms over his chest.

“May I mind your grey matter?”

“There’s nothing to tell.” Jason shrugs and Damian throws his hands up a little and pushes himself up.

“Whatever. Instead of moping around and letting it fester you should talk to someone, and if you don’t want it to be me, go complain to Drake.”

Jason watches him leave. He wishes he could talk to Tim, wishes he hadn’t gone snooping and had just waited for him to come home and gone and spoken to him and let Tim come clean about it in his own time. But maybe then Jason would have never known, maybe Tim would have never told him. Jason couldn’t stop the questions from rolling around in his head.

What now? Who is it? How long has she been in the picture? What of Kon? What of him?

He was getting agitated the longer he went without knowing. Yes, he was worried and he understands (almost) what it’s like to be in that position. He had his own scare, once, made him want to disappear again forever. But that’s all it was, a scare, nothing more and after that he learnt his lesson for sure. He knew that Tim was prone to panic, but never in front of anyone else, he can’t imagine how bad Tim must be right now, letting it all consume him as he sits alone and worries about it. But Tim’s smart, he wouldn’t let this happen. Something wasn’t adding up in the puzzle, but he couldn’t figure out how to make the pieces fit.

He sits there letting it boil and fester inside him until he feels like he’s going to explode. He’s not going to get answers if he doesn’t go after them. He didn’t promise Bruce, and Tim will forgive him one day. He pushes himself from his chair so fast that it rolls back and nearly tips over. Within no time he’s up the stairs and outside Tim’s room. He hesitates for a second before he knocks. He isn’t expecting a response and so he’s not surprised when Tim doesn’t reply. He enters anyway. He closes the door behind him and even considers locking it, but doesn’t. Tim’s curled up on his bed, back against the headboard and knees pulled up to his chest. He stares over at Jason with wide eyes. They look wet, but his face shows no sign of crying.

“What’re you doing in here, Jason?” Tim growls and Jason’s never heard him sound so angry, not with it directed at him before, or as upset. He feels like even more of an asshole and thinks about just apologising for today and leaving. But he can’t, he needs to know.

“Look I already know Tim, what’s the point in hiding anything else?” Jason moves over to the bed and it almost physically hurts in his chest when Tim flinches and looks ready to run away, maybe even jump out his open window and escape like Jason was going to hurt him. Jason slows his movements and calms his body so he’s not as tense and intimidating.

“Just help me figure this out. You’re smart Tim, way too smart to let something like this happen. God, fucking Dick, who’s dedicated his soul to Wally since he was ten is more likely to knock someone up then you are.”

Tim doesn’t move or say anything, and he’s not looking at Jason anymore either. It makes the frustration worse and he drops down onto Tim’s bed and reaches out to him. When Tim flinches away from his hand he doesn’t pull back. “I’m not Kon, Tim. I won’t hurt you.”

Tim looks up at him, and his eyes are full of tears that he can’t keep back for much longer. Jason grabs hold of his arm lightly and gives it a gentle squeeze, trying to calm Tim down. Despite how frustrating this is for him, he can’t imagine how Tim must be feeling. He can see that he’s scared, and he has every right to be.

“Look. I’m sorry I was looking around in your stuff in the first place, I shouldn’t have. But I was worried about you, I thought Kon had hurt you again. But I know now, there’s no point in trying to hide it or pretend like it doesn’t matter. Just… when? How? Who? Were you drugged, forced? What happened?” Jason can’t help but throw the questions at Tim like rapid fire.

“Jason just stop, none of that happened.” Tim hiccups and Jason shifts closer.

“Then what did? Because it’s not like you to knock someone up.”

“I didn’t knock anyone up Jason!” Tim snaps and Jason recoils a little. There’s a beat of silence before Jason’s face drops.

“Oh my god, they’re not yours.” Jason looks away for a moment and the shock wears off, being replaced with anger. “Kon knocked someone up.”

“No, Jason, they’re mine.” Tim tries not to sob, tries to hold it all in, wiping his eyes and nose furiously. Jason frowns at him and lets go of his arm.

“That doesn’t make sense, you said you didn’t knock anyone up.”

“I didn’t Jason. I…” Tim curses and looks away from Jason. “I got myself knocked up.”

It takes a few minutes for those words to actually register in Jason’s mind. They seemed to just keep crashing into walls, not going anywhere, because it didn’t make sense. Tim was male, clearly and at the most physically. Jason couldn’t figure it out.

“What?” He asks dumbly and it makes Tim sob again, covering his face with his hands.

“Don’t make me say it again, Jason.”

“But… you’re not… how?”

“I’m not… I can’t Jason. Not now, please.” Tim finally looks back up to Jason and he’s not angry anymore. He’s scared, he’s upset and he’s hurt. Jason’s chest hurts seeing it, but his mind is too scrambled to take it in that much. He thinks about it a while longer.

“So are you like, intersex or something?” Jason asks suddenly and Tim swallows and shrugs.

“I mean, you could say that.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell any of us?”

“I haven’t always… I wasn’t born this way, Jason.” Tim sighs and starts to fiddle with the sheets.

“I… I don’t get it, Tim.”

“I know Jason, I know you don’t but I can’t tell you now and if I have to, I’m not explaining what happened more than once. It sucked enough having Bruce explain what had happened to me.” Tim curls harder into himself, resting his chin on his knees and curling one foot over the other. Jason just watches Tim for a long silent moment. Everything starts to try and make sense of itself in his mind and the realisation of what this all means finally comes to him.

“You’re pregnant.” He stupidly blurts out. Tim chokes out a surprised sound, something like a chuckle and rests his hand against his forehead.

“Yeah. One week.”

Jason doesn’t know what to say for a long time again. This is too much, this isn’t what he was expecting, none of this is.

“When are you gonna tell Kon?”

“I don’t know Jason, I didn’t plan for this.” Tim sighs and Jason looks away and recollects his thoughts before he looks back to him again.

“He deserves to know. After all, it is his, right?” Jason can’t think of why it wouldn’t be. Tim looks at him for a minute, dead in the eye like he was waiting for Jason to say something else. He thought it’d click, but maybe all the confusion and frustration hasn’t really let that bit of the equation sit in yet.

“That’s the thing, Jason. I don’t know.”

“What? Who else could it be?” Tim loves Kon, who else would be a possibility?

“You, Jay.” Tim isn’t looking at him when he says it. Jason’s brain shuts off for a moment.

“W-what?”

“Think about it, Jay. A week ago. We went out for dinner, you… we had sex. It could be yours.” Tim still doesn’t look at him which makes it even worse.

“But… no, it can’t be. It’s Kon’s.”

“What if it isn’t, Jason?”

“…He’ll kill me.”

“I won’t let him.” Tim mumbles and that makes something in Jason feel a little better, but there’s too much going on in his mind and body for him to feel any form of joy right now.

“Why’d you let me if you… why didn’t you stop me?” Jason asks in a mild panic. If he’d known he wouldn’t have ever done it.

“Because I didn’t know how high the possibility was and I thought that it was just one day y’know, what was the harm in it?”

“What do you mean one day?”

“Don’t worry about it… I… I’ll sort everything out, Jason.” Tim mumbles, something close to a stress-related whimper. Jason watches him for a moment as he tugs at his slightly long hair.

“What’re you gonna do?” He asks in a low voice and Tim shifts the small bit he has to to be able to turn his body and lean his head on Jason’s shoulder. Jason swallows thickly and puts his hand on Tim’s arm again.

“I don’t know.”

“What if it is mine?”

“…I don’t know. Just… please don’t go. Whatever happens, however this ends, don’t go. Please.” Tim tries not to cry again, but Jason can hear the fear in his voice, can hear how it wavers and the way he’s clearly losing that battle. Jason turns and pulls Tim fully into his body, letting Tim cling to him tightly.

“I promise I won’t.” He whispers. There’s still a lot for him to digest, a lot he doesn’t know or understand but he knows whatever he’s feeling can fuck off and wait right now. Tim needs him, Tim’s in a worse place right now and he needs to be there.

“Thank you, Jay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	12. Comfort

Tim doesn't want Jason to leave his room after that. He knows he owes Jason an explanation, and that the reason he's even in Tim's room in the first place is because he wanted one, because the fact he didn't have one or any idea about what was happening was eating him up and fucking with his head. But right now, that wasn't something he wanted to be thinking about. Right now, all he cared about was laying in his bed, curled up against Jason's chest and the older's arms wrapped around him tightly and holding him, protecting him. A small moment of safety and serenity for him to exist in.

Jason hasn't said anything since Tim shyly asked if they could just lay down and cuddle for a bit. That was a good few hours ago. At some stage Tim thought Jason might have fallen asleep but soon after that thought he'd tilted his head enough to press a soft kiss to the top of Tim's head. Now his hand is slowly rubbing continuous, soft circles against his back and every few minutes he'll kiss Tim's head again. It makes Tim's heart flutter and his nerves calm even more.

He knows they can't stay there forever, they can't stay like this forever, but he wishes they could. No feeling compared to the comfort that Jason's body and arms wrapped around his own did. It was like his own safety blanket, found in Jason. He was clutching the front of Jason's shirt in his hands tightly with his nose pressed into the fabric of the collar, inhaling Jason's scent every time he breathed. Jason shifts a little and Tim clutches his shirt tighter and makes a small accidental whining sound. Jason chuckles and rubs his arm lightly and kisses his hair again.

"I've gotta get up, Babybird." Jason continues to attempt to pry himself from Tim's clinging hands but Tim's not letting go or giving up that easily.

"No you don't. You've got nothing you have to be doing." Tim mumbles and Jason shrugs a shoulder and proceeds to lay back down and look Tim in the eye.

"You're right. But I do need to take a piss." Jason smirks and Tim seems like for a moment he's still not going to let go, but he does. Jason watches him silently and doesn't move.

"What?" Tim asks in a soft voice and he isn't sure if Jason actually moves in a little or if he just tilts his head a bit and so it looks like he does.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks and Tim can't help but smirk at that.

"You have been doing just that for a few hours now, I think it's a bit late to be asking." He teases and Jason rolls his eyes.

"You know what I mean." Jason shakes his head and Tim shuffles forward a little.

"You can. You don't have to ask."

"Yes, I do. You have a boyfriend. This _is_ cheating." Jason reminds him even as he leans in and presses his lips to Tim's softly. He pulls back again pretty quickly though. Not too fast, but too soon in Tim's opinion. Within the same beat, he's getting himself up from Tim's bed and heading off to the bathroom.

Tim rolls onto his back and lifts one arm up so that it's resting beside his head, almost under it and stares up at the ceiling. His other hand moves slowly to come to rest on his stomach. It wasn't as weird to him as it should have been. Maybe because he's known for a long time that there was a crazy possibility that he could conceive. If he was honest, at first he hated the idea and didn't want to think about it. But he spent a lot of time a few months after thinking about it and what it would be like if he ever did and could successfully carry a child. His child. This wasn't just Kon's or Jason's, it was his too. That hadn't really sunk in for some reason, he was too busy worry about the fact that he didn't know who it belonged to that he didn't even register the fact that it belonged to him too.

Suddenly the idea wasn't so bad. His mind drifts a little, to Jason, to Michael. Michael, the kid who Jason took in and managed to raise. Jason's son. Jason was a good dad, maybe he hasn't always known what he was doing or what he should do, and he had his moments of doing the wrong thing, but Michael turned out good. Anything that goes wrong now isn't in Jason's hands, he's not a kid anymore who needs his dad to tell him what to do. But Tim knows that Michael will be like Jason, a good person. Maybe with fewer mistakes, but that wasn't the point. If Tim was honest, if he was going to have a baby, have a child, he'd want it to be Jason's. Because after all, he could rely on Jason to always be there, to always care, to always love him, to always love their child. He couldn't rely on Kon.

Jason comes back into the room, tugging his shirt down further so that when he crawled back onto the bed it didn't hitch up too much. He pauses when he takes in Tim. Laying sprawled out now, instead of curled up like he had been for hours now, with one hand over his flat belly. Something with the sight makes Jason's heart stutter and -unexplainably- his dick throb. He ignores it though and tugs his shirt a little more as he walks over to the bed. Tim turns his head the slightest to look up at him as Jason crawls back onto the bed, leaning over Tim's small body.

"Hey." Jason almost whispers as he holds himself above Tim, a soft smile on his lips. Tim smiles back up at him.

"Hey."

"I... I know there's nothing really there but... Can I?" Jason isn't sure why he's nervous to ask. Maybe because he knows Tim doesn't know what he wants to do about it all yet. He might not keep it, maybe he doesn't want it to be Jason's, which Jason wouldn't be surprised about. Tim swallows thickly and bites his bottom lip. He hesitates for a moment and even though Jason wants to tell him not to worry about it and forget it and move on, he doesn't. He gives Tim the time he needs.

"I... I don't see why not." Tim slides his hand up from his stomach and over his chest so it's not in the way. Jason sits up and back on his haunches and looks over Tim's small body again. He reaches out and hesitantly touches Tim's stomach. It jumps when Tim chuckles lightly, covering his mouth with his hand and apologising. "You're not gonna break me, Jason."

"I know it's just... I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this." Jason flattens his hand against Tim's belly and just holds it there.

"I know you are." Tim sighs and Jason shifts so he's sat more comfortably.

"Can I lift up your shirt?"

"I don't know what you plan on finding Jay, but sure." Tim chuckles again. Instead of replying Jason just pushes the bottom of Tim's shirt up until it's sat on Tim's midriff. He splays his hand out on Tim's belly again.

"It's so weird. There's... there's a baby growing inside you... a person. It's fucking weird to think about." Jason mumbles and Tim laughs again and rubs at his eyes, shaking his head.

"That's usually what happens when someone's pregnant, Jason. It's how we all got here. Well... except Kon." Tim hums and Jason shakes his head.

"No, but... it's you. And it could be mine this... it could be our kid, Tim." Jason reaches up with his other hand and runs it through his hair. Tim just watches him as he fawns over the idea. He finally looks up to Tim again instead of staring at his hand against Tim's belly. "Ours..."

"Yeah, it could be, Jay."

"It's crazy."

"A little." Tim offers and Jason lets out a huff of air and looks back down to Tim's stomach again for a second before he looks back up to his face. There's a small beat of silence before Jason leans forward, keeping one hand on Tim's belly while he uses the other to balance himself as he swoops in to steal another kiss from Tim. This time there's a little hunger in it, it's more desperate with tongue and small moans. When Jason pulls back, Tim's panting slightly and quietly.

"God, I don't even care how this could be real anymore. I don't care whose it is, or what you choose to do, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to let anything happen to this kid if you keep it, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm going to protect the two of you from anything and everything, I promise." Jason presses his forehead a little roughly to Tim's as he says it but the younger doesn't complain. His gut twists and his heart aches with the promise. He didn't expect this, he didn't think Jason would respond like this at all.

"Jay..." He realises he doesn't know what to say in response to that. Jason leans back in and kisses him again.

"I promise." He repeats and Tim reacts on impulse, love, lust, need and want all consuming him in seconds as he reaches up and cups the sides of Jason's face and pulls him in to kiss him hard and deep.

Jason's quick to remove his hand from Tim's stomach to press it into the bed instead so that he's not applying added pressure. He knows that at this stage, there's not much he could actually do to cause harm by leaning a little of his weight onto Tim but he also doesn't want to risk it. Tim wasn't a woman, his body wasn't made to bear a child like a female is. Anything could happen, he didn't want to take any chances. Tim pulls Jason down more against his own body in an act of pure lust, wrapping one of his legs up over Jason's hip to hold him completely in place. When they break the kiss for a breath of air, Jason watches Tim with something like curiosity in his eyes.

"Fuck me, Jason."

"What?" Jason recoils a little. Sure, Tim could be blunt when he wanted, but Jason wasn't expecting this. "But-"

"Jay, please."

Later Tim could blame it on hormones if he wanted, but this was just need and want, nothing to do with biology or chemistry. This was all pent-up feelings.

Jason only hesitates for a minute before his hands are on Tim's body.

\- - -

When dinnertime comes Tim hesitates for a long moment before he curls in on himself again and says that he doesn't want anything, but that Jason should go eat. Jason knows he needs to eat something, that the only reason he doesn't want to go down there is because of what Dick thinks he knows and he's scared something's going to be mentioned or said and Dick will say something about it. Jason sits on the edge of the bed and watches Tim for a minute before he leans back a little and reaches over to rest his hand under Tim's chin and lift his head a little so he's looking up at Jason.

"You know you have to eat something, Tim. Especially now. Even if you're not sure if you're going to keep it yet or not." Jason tells him and Tim knows he's right, had a feeling he'd say something like that when he said he didn't want anything to eat.

"I can't go down there, Jay."

"It'll be worse if you don't. Please, Tim. Dick isn't going to say anything, I'm not going to and if you don't give him a reason to, Damian won't ask. Michael won't, even if he thinks something's wrong, not in front of everyone else, and you know that."

"Damian always knows when something's up, Jason." Tim sighs and Jason moves closer and kisses his cheek softly.

"It'll be fine baby. Please? For you, for them." He says the last bit in a whisper, resting his forehead against Tim's. Tim bites his bottom lip and closes his eyes. Jason was so right and he knew it, but he really didn't want to admit it.

"Okay... okay fine. But... I'm not staying out there past dinner. I can't, not yet. I need to think about this. I need time Jason..."

"I know, Tim. I'm sorry I didn't give you that." Jason pulls back and runs his hand through his hair slowly. Tim sits up straighter, letting go of his legs so that they're not pressed up against his chest anymore.

"I still want you around though. You... I can relax around you." Tim admits a little shyly. "C-can you stay the night here? But like... just as silent company. If you're okay with that."

"If that's what you need baby, then yes, I can do that for you." Jason kisses Tim's forehead.

"Thank you." Tim says it in a small voice with a little smile on his face to go with it. Because he was expecting Jason to say no, or to try and give Tim a reason to reconsider it.

"Don't mention it. Now come on, let's get you two fed." And maybe it's because it's Jason, or maybe it's because this kid could be Jason's, or maybe it's because Jason cares so much, but Tim's really starting to like the idea of being pregnant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	13. Snap

It takes Tim three days to decide he can’t do it anymore.

Three days of him not leaving his room much and Jason being constant company, running in and out when he needed to do something or went to get Tim something he needed. Three days of thinking and talking about it a little with Jason, but mainly thinking. And fucking. Tim couldn’t keep himself away from Jason, just wanted to feel something and be so lost in another person that he forgot about it all for a moment. Kon came around and left once, Tim could’ve lived without that visit.

But it was on Thursday that Tim decided that this secret was going to kill him if he kept it any longer, that if things didn’t get sorted out he was going to go insane. Jason had just sort of come to terms with what was going on like it was normal. It wasn’t and that was frustrating Tim so much. He knew how weird and fucked up the situation was and having Jason act like it could just happen to anyone at any time, like the fact that Tim was pregnant was a big fat ‘so what’, made Tim angry. He hated how easy it was to be around Jason and how good it made him feel, it made the idea and the possibility of this baby being Kon’s worse, of Tim actually still being with Kon worse.

Three days and he snapped.

Without even saying anything, after being curled up on his bed with his back to Jason and an uncomfortable amount of space between their bodies, he pushes himself up and gets off his bed. Jason watches him as he leaves the room, not knowing if he should stay or follow. He opts for staying put, for now. Tim makes his way down to Bruce’s room first and knocks hard on the door. When there’s no reply he heads straight for the cave. Bruce should be home at this hour. He’s relieved to find him at the computer, typing away furiously on the keyboard as he attempts to work the pieces of the latest whatever together. Tim wasn’t interested right now. After looking around for a moment and seeing no one else, Tim approaches Bruce.

“I’m gonna tell them.” He states without much emotion to his voice. Bruce’s typing comes to an abrupt halt. He turns in his chair so he’s facing Tim completely and assesses him for a long moment.

“Are you sure?” Tim’s nodding before he’s even finished asking.

“Yes. I should have told them straight away, when it happened, when he…” Tim doesn’t finish that thought. He already has to talk about it with everyone else, he doesn’t really want to be saying it now and forcing himself to not want to say it again later.

“Okay.” Bruce says simply. He can tell Tim wants to do this, that he doesn’t want or need Bruce asking questions and possibly making him panic too much so that he falls back in on himself. “What have you decided?”

“I… I wanna keep it.” Tim swallows thickly and he hadn’t really noticed his hand was on his stomach until then. He was so used to Jason wanting to have his hand there that the constant feeling of having a hand on his belly is almost normal already. “And they deserve to know; Jay, Dick and Dami, Alfred too. And… I have to tell Kon.”

“What about the others? Eventually Roy, Wally, Michael, even Clark and Jon will have to know. And the list doesn’t stop there Tim. Barbara, Cassandra, Stephanie, The Titans-”

“I know, Bruce.” Tim cuts in. He doesn’t want to think about how many people will have to be told about this. Basically anyone who knows that he’s Red Robin, almost all of them. Almost. “Can we just start with immediate family first? Like everyone who lives under this roof? After that can… can you tell anyone else on the outside that _has_ to know? We’ll talk about who later. Dick can tell Wally, Jason will tell Roy. Michael can be there tonight.”

“Okay, Tim.” Bruce stands up and takes the few steps he needs to be standing directly in front of Tim. “So long as you’re ready for them to know.”

“They should have known from the start.” Tim sighs and Bruce holds his arms open and Tim lets himself fall into them, clutching tightly at Bruce’s shirt.

“Maybe. But you made your choice then and you’re making your choice again now. They’re not going to be mad at you for not telling them, they’re going to understand, you know that.”

“What if Kon doesn’t?” Tim asks weakly and Bruce tightens his hold on him.

“If he cares, if you matter to him at all, he will.”

The thought terrifies Tim because he knows, he’s not that important.

\- - -

Tim heads straight to the living room and Bruce tells him he’ll get everyone and tell them that there’s a ‘family meeting’ happening. They don’t have family meetings, they have team and group meetings regarding patrol and the villains of Gotham. And these meetings don’t happen in the living room, no, they happen over the phone, commlinks, hell, even text and email. Rarely in person.

Jason and Kon are the first to come into the living room and Tim had kind of forgotten he’d left Jason in his room for Kon to run into. They didn’t look pissed but instantly Kon moves right over to Tim and grabs hold of his hands.

“You okay?” And it’s comforting to see the little bit of worry in his eyes, even if it’s not much.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Tim mumbles but he can’t stop his hands from shaking, even in Kon’s hold.

“Are you sure?” He asks and Tim bites his lip and doesn’t answer. He didn’t know yet, he won’t know until he’s come clean about everything.

He doesn’t have to answer when everyone else comes into the room, talking among themselves, asking Bruce questions. Michael moves right over to Jason’s side and whispers something to him. Jason shakes his head and Michael nods and steps back again. Tim steps away from Kon and moves to stand a little in front of them all. There’s not even a lot of people in this room and yet Tim feels like the world is watching him. Bruce steps up to him and rests a hand on his shoulder, his back to everyone else.

“Are you sure about this?”

“No.” Tim whispers. He takes a second to look up at Bruce. “Can you… just in case I can’t?” He doesn’t ask the question properly but Bruce seems to understand what he means and nods his head.

“Of course.” He turns back to the others. “You might want to sit down, all of you.”

Tim chews his bottom lip nervously and tries to keep his hands away from his stomach. He watches Dick, because that way he doesn’t have to look at Kon, and because Jason’s close to Kon, he can’t watch him. He notices the way Damian eyes him up, watches him like he’s scared himself. They all take their seats and Tim’s stomach feels like it sinks with the weight of their eyes on him. It’s silent for a moment too long and Tim knows that.

“What’s going on?” Damian asks, and Tim can hear the caution in his voice. Bruce looks to Tim and waits and when he still fails to speak up he steps in.

“This isn’t an easy thing to be talking about. What Tim has decided he needs to share with you is going to change some things,” Tim nearly scoffs at his words. _Some things_ , like this didn’t change everything, like it hasn’t fucked everything up already. “Just listen, hear out the whole story and situation. And understand that half of the reason this was kept from you all for so long was because of me.”

Tim tries not to frown and look at Bruce in confusion. He’s lying, to take some of the load off of Tim if it all goes wrong, which means he doesn’t trust them all to understand like he’d said. Because from the start, this secret was kept because Tim wanted it that way. Bruce advised otherwise but he refused. None of this was Bruce’s decision ever, it’d always been Tim’s.

Tim takes in a deep breath and closes his eyes for a second. All he has to do is start talking, because once he starts, he’s good to go unless someone gives him reason to stop. He just has to act like it’s normal, that things are going to be okay, that everyone will understand and only some things will change. He opens his eyes and instead of looking at anyone he looks past them all to the other side of the room, to the family portraits. The biggest two being of Bruce with himself, Dick, Dami and Jason, with Alfred standing to the side like he always was, always has been, watching over them, looking after them. And beside it was the original Wayne portrait, with Martha, Thomas and Bruce. Something felt oddly comforting looking at them. Maybe it’s because he never knew them, maybe it’s because their framed faces couldn’t judge or hurt him for the mistakes he’d made.

“Years ago, and I’m talking years… I was like eighteen or something at the time, I… I kinda pulled a Jason. I went after the Joker, knowing I shouldn’t have, knowing Bruce didn’t want me to, knowing what’d happened to Jason when he’d done just that. But I did it anyway. As you can probably figure out, I survived, but only because Bruce wasn’t going to let that happen again.

“But I didn’t come out unscratched. I… I can’t remember all the things that happened to me while I was in there, but I know a lot of it hurt, I remember passing out a few times and there were a lot of needles. Whatever it was he was hoping to achieve was a failure, but whatever he’d injected me with didn’t.” Tim sucks in another breath and closes his eyes again. He can feel them all watching him, can feel and sense Bruce beside him.

“Bruce obviously had me checked, made sure that I wasn’t poisoned, did everything he could to get whatever drugs he’d put in me out. But I guess… this wasn’t really what was meant to happen. We still don’t know what it was that caused it, if it was one of the drugs or if it had something to do with the fact I had so many in my system and to be honest, none of it makes sense scientifically, but it happened.

“About a week after I started to get on and off pains in my abdomen and lower back. For a while I thought it was stress related or something and I ignored it. Until it started to feel like my insides were on fire. I don’t know how many scans Bruce took, but there was a lot, and a lot of other bullshit that went on to try and find out what was wrong. And then we found it. And I don’t think I’ll ever know if the Joker intentionally brought this on or not, but we can only guess that it was something he did to me that triggered it.” Tim finally has the nerve to look around the room at everyone. They’re all looking at him the same way, with full attention on him, mixes of worry and fear on their faces.

“So… you all know that as embryos, we’re all ‘female’. And that as the male hormones come in the internal female parts break down and changes are made to our bodies and we turn out like this, the only side effects being our nipples.” Tim sort of hated the fact he was talking about this, they were all men, they all knew what he was talking about, and yet he felt so weird.

“But sometimes, on rare occasions other things don’t break down all the way and y’know, there’s always talk about guys finding out they’ve got dormant wombs and it’s all like ‘wow that’s a big thing’ when it’s not. And then you get the few with working wombs and then we jump into the area of intersex people. Guys can go their whole lives never knowing they have a dormant womb unless it’s found during medical procedures. Or y’know…” Tim pauses and bites his bottom lip so hard it almost bleeds. He closes his eyes and clenches his fists so hard his nails almost break the skin of his palms.

“The Joker somehow manages to make some fucked up concoction that, by some science bullshit I don’t even want to _try_ and understand, manages to make the thing develop… the whole bloody kit, fucking working ovaries and all.” Tim didn’t notice he was shaking until Bruce rests his hand on his shoulder again and snaps him out of his trance.

And just like that, he’s a deer trapped in headlights and he can’t say anything and he can barely breathe. Why was he telling them? They’re all going to be disgusted and they’re going to say things he can’t hear right now. Bruce is turning him around slowly so that he’s not facing them all anymore and trying to get him to calm down. Tim can see his mouth moving, but he can’t hear any of the words that leave his mouth. And suddenly, like a switch was flicked everything turns back on when Tim’s grabbed and pulled into someone’s arms. Jason’s arms, he knows that hold, that chest, that feeling of being safe again. He tries to hide himself away in Jason’s body.

“Hey, it’s okay Tim, I’ve got you, you’re okay.” Jason whispers it into Tim’s hair and he can hear it fine.

“No… Jay it’s not.” He tries not to sob.

“It is, you can stop, you don’t have to say anymore.” Jason assures him, rubbing his hands over Tim’s back but Tim’s shaking his head.

“Yes, I do, I have to finish this.” He tries to pull back but Jason won’t let him.

“No, you don’t. They can figure it out and if they don’t, Bruce can tell them, Tim. You’ve said enough.” Jason whispers, kissing his hair softly.

“Please, I need to. They need to hear it from me. I’m tired of secrets, I’m tired of hiding this.” Tim’s body deflates and everything drops, like his own words are able to get him back together and sorted out. Jason hesitates for a moment before he pulls back enough to look Tim in the eye.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He hiccups a little and Jason suppresses the urge to lean in and kiss him. Instead he keeps one hand on Tim’s back and lets him turn back to the others. No one else has moved and none of them look angry or worried anymore. They just look, sad. Tim doesn’t want to look at Kon, he can’t, not yet. But with Jason’s hand on his back and his body pressed a little into Tim’s side, he feels a lot better, calmer and almost at ease. Safe. Jason makes him feel so unbelievably safe.

“Since…” Tim has to pause and clear his throat. “Since we found out, Bruce tried to figure out the best way to deal with it. Once it’d finished… developing I guess, it stopped hurting. It took a few weeks, a lot less time than what we thought it would. In that time the options were ruled out. I either have it removed, or live with it. When we looked into having it removed, the way it’d grown, the fact that my body hadn’t actually developed with it meant it had to improvise when it formed properly. If I were to have it removed, so many problems would occur. I didn’t want to risk it.

“We thought that maybe it would still remain dormant, that it was just properly developed now. We soon found out that wasn’t the case. That week sucked. So we had to figure out what we could do to prevent it causing any problems. Because I’m not biologically female, I can’t take medication designed for women. So we made these pills, and it took months, but they’ve worked since. Kept my body in check, kept me from… from…” Tim closes his eyes again. “They kept me from getting pregnant too.

“And then I missed having one, one fucking pill.” He pauses for a moment and everyone is silent. Dick slowly, but almost suddenly shifts forward in his seat before he pushes himself up to his feet. Tim watches him, they all watch him as his shoulders drop a little and he bites his bottom lip.

“Those tests Jason found, they were yours.”

“Yeah…”

“I knew it.” Dick mumbles and Tim frowns up at him, confused. How could he know? “I knew you wouldn’t have knocked anyone up, I just knew it!” He seems a little pleased with himself, too joyful if Tim was honest. But it drains away pretty quickly.

“But… so that means you’re…” Dick’s eyes dart down for a second to Tim’s stomach, before he looks back up at him. Tim just nods a little.

“Pregnant.” And suddenly all eyes are on one side of the room. Tim takes a second to follow their gaze, not wanting to. Kon’s watching Tim with absolutely nothing readable on his face. “I got you pregnant.”

And this was it, the bit Tim had been dreading the most. Dick suddenly turns to look at Tim like the switch’s been clicked in his head too. He knew Jason and Tim went out and he knew they’d had sex. And Tim can see it on his face, he’s asking the question Tim doesn’t want him to verbally announce. The lack of response from Tim must have been enough, or maybe it was because he looked so scared, or the fact that Jason was still holding onto him.

“Right?” Kon asks and suddenly it didn’t matter that Tim could get pregnant, or the fact that he actually was, but it was now about _who_ . Who had knocked him up. And as Kon gets to his feet, eyes on Jason, Tim knows that he’s thinking of how many different ways he can put Jason back into his grave. Tim moves without thinking, standing himself between Kon and Jason. Kon stares him down for a good second before he snaps, because Tim’s just confirmed his thought that it was _Jason_ and not him. “You fucking piece of _shit_.”

“Don’t! Kon, don’t. Just listen _please_.” Tim moves forward and grabs hold of Kon. He knows that in front of everyone, Kon won’t do anything to hurt him and that by holding onto Kon, he’s saving Jason. Kon doesn’t advance, but he’s still staring Jason down. “I… I don’t know whose it is okay? I shouldn’t have… I-it was me, okay? I’m sorry I just… I missed it okay? I missed when I’d mess around with Jason, before you and I didn’t think… but it could be yours Kon. It’s… I don’t know, I’m sorry please don’t take this out on Jason.”

Tim’s shaking all over. He can’t let go of Kon, he’ll kill Jason. Tim’s relieved that not only does Dick get in between Jason and them but that Damian and Bruce do too. Even Michael jumps in. Which makes Tim realise how much the two of them need to talk now.

“You fucking dog.” Kon spits and Tim can’t think of what he has to say or do to get Kon’s attention off of Jason. “I’m not even fucking surprised Jason. You couldn’t keep it in your pants if your life depended on it.”

“Kon just listen to me.” Tim tries again desperately. Kon finally looks down at him and Tim reaches up and touches his face. “I made the choice. Jason offered, I could have said no, but I didn’t. I wanted it. I’m sorry.”

There’s an uneasy pause around the room. Everyone’s dead quiet and Tim swears he can hear the damn dust particles floating past his face. No one says a word for what feels like hours and the tension between them all is thick and heavy and sticks to them all. Kon’s stance finally drops and Tim can take in a breath of relief. He goes to take a step back but obviously thinks better on it and instead wraps his arms around Tim’s waist and pulls him into his body. Tim swallows thickly and rests his head in the crook of Kon’s neck.

“I hope it’s yours.” Tim whispers and he only says it to keep Kon’s cool, because it’s one hundred percent a lie. Kon doesn’t say anything but Tim can tell there’s a lot he wants to say. Tim looks over to Jason, looks to all of them and pulls his head away from Kon’s body.

“So yeah… that’s what’s going on…”

“How long?” Damian asks and Tim bites his lip.

“Two weeks.”

“What’re you gonna do?” He presses and Tim doesn’t want him to be asking questions but he knows that they deserve at the least for him to be as honest as possible about it.

“I… I’m gonna keep it.”

“What about… y’know? What happens when it’s time to have it?”

“I-I don’t know…”

“You don’t have to know.” Jason’s voice is soft and so calming. Tim wishes more than anything for Jason to have his arms around his waist instead of Kon. “And my statement still stands.” He throws in and Tim swallows thickly, trying to think of what Jason’s talking about.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s mine or his, I’m not going anywhere, I’m going to make sure nothing happens to you.” Tim’s chest feels too tight.

“What if it is mine?” Kon hisses and Jason watches him for a moment.

“I hope it is. For your sake. I didn’t want this Kon, if I’d known I wouldn’t have let it happen, I wouldn’t have ever risked it. But even if it is, that won’t stop me from protecting both of them.” Jason’s voice is stern and direct. It makes Tim’s heart sink a little that Jason doesn’t want it to be his, but knowing Jason is going to look after them no matter what makes him feel a little bit better about it.

Kon doesn’t say anything again, just watches Jason with a hard stare. Tim looks between the two before he looks down at his feet and lets out a small sigh. So many problems were going to come from this now, he could tell.

“But what if it is Jason’s?” Dick asks and Tim wants to slap him. He couldn’t leave it there, could he? Why’d he have to ask that? When Tim looks up at him he can tell he’s trying to test Kon, to see if he can get a reaction or something from him.

“He better hope it’s not his.” Kon growls. Tim knows that this is going to be a long night, a really long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	14. Past wounds

Tim’s more than relieved when everyone finally starts to leave the living room. So many questions and worried faces, tension and aggression went between them all and it sucked. Tim knew this would fuck everything up, but he didn’t know it’d be that bad. Bruce hovers for a second before saying he wants Tim to stay behind and as Kon leaves the room he also grabs hold of Jason and asks him to stay as well. Dick steps up to Tim before he walks out and pushes his hair from his face and gives him a soft smile.

“It’ll be okay. We’re here for you, okay?”

“I know Dick. Thank you.” Tim lets Dick pull him into his chest for a quick hug.

“No offence, I hope it’s Jay’s.” He mumbles before he pulls back and walks out the room himself. Tim whispers a low ‘me too’ but it’s so quiet and gets half caught in his throat not even Kon would have heard or understood what he’d just said.

Tim looks up to Bruce and Jason who’re both standing where they were before, next to each other and watching Tim. It takes a moment to get his legs working before he’s able to walk over to them. Jason briefly looks at Bruce for a second before he steps up to Tim and pulls him into his chest like Dick had. Only Jason holds onto him so much tighter and kisses his forehead. He doesn’t say anything as he pulls back and turns to Bruce, keeping one arm around Tim’s waist, just because he can because he wants too because he knows that it makes Tim feel better.

“First of all, I wanted to apologise. When I first found out there was a possibility of it being yours Jason I was… I wasn’t happy about it, let’s put it that way. Only because I didn’t know the situation.” Bruce folds his hands behind his back and looks between the two. Tim knows Bruce was worried about it potentially being Jason’s before but now, he looked like he’d changed his perspective.

“From what I’ve seen tonight, I think we know who all of us want the father to be. Even you two. Now, Tim, I’m not going to try and rule your life and it is your decision and I’ve never had a problem with it in the past. But I am worried. I’m worried how all of this is going to make Kon react once it’s really sunk in.”

“I know,” Tim mumbles, looking down at the floor again. “I’m worried too.”

“You need to really think about this Tim. Things can get dangerous for you and the baby fast if things don’t go right. I don’t want anything like that to happen.” Bruce steps forward a little and Tim averts his eyes so he’s looking back up at him. He’s never seen Bruce look as torn as he does now. “I don’t want to make choices for you, but I want you to ask yourself this; do you trust Kon around yourself as it is? Would you trust him around a child?”

Tim looks away again. Tim didn’t need to think about it, the answer was no, plain and simple. Jason’s hold on him tightens.

“Jason, I know it’s going to be hard, but maybe, for now, don’t try and push anything with Kon, least he takes it out on Tim.” Tim isn’t sure if Bruce is aware of the fact that Kon beats him, that Kon purposely hurts him when he’s mad. But he is sure that Bruce knows Kon well.

“I know… I’ll try I just… I want to be there.” Jason sighs and Tim squeezes the hand that Jason has on his hip.

“I want you there.” Tim mumbles and Jason’s grip tightens further like he was desperate not to let go ever.

“I know Jason, but for now, until Tim figures out what he’s going to do about this.” Bruce looks them both over for a moment before he steps back a little. “I’ll give you two a moment, just remember what I’ve said.”

“Thank you.” Tim mumbles and Bruce nods and walks past them and leaves the room. For a long moment, they don’t say anything. Jason doesn’t look like he knows what he wants to say. Tim can tell there’s something, that he’s holding back on saying whatever it is. In a way, he’s glad he is, doesn’t know what he’ll do if it’s something he doesn’t want to hear. But at the same time he really wants to know what it is, needs to know what’s going through Jason’s head right now. But after so many minutes of waiting he knows Jason isn’t going to say it and that he might as well come clean about what he’s been thinking.

“I’ve already chosen. I really want it to be yours, I want you, Jason.” Tim mumbles in a low voice, not looking at Jason at all. Jason watches him for a second before he turns to fully face him, hands clenching at his sides. He wants to reach out, wants to grab hold of Tim but he stops himself.

“I know.” He replies simply. If he hadn’t, if he still wanted Kon he wouldn’t still be stood beside Jason.

“I don’t know what to do about Kon, I’m so fucking scared.” Tim admits. His body shakes and he swallows thickly, trying not to let himself cry again. He was over crying. Jason opens his arms a little and Tim steps up into his space and lets him wrap his arms around his body. Jason holds onto him tightly, keeping him completely pressed into his chest.

“I know baby, I promise, I’m here, I’m not going to let him hurt you.” Jason whispers into Tim’s hair before he kisses it softly. Tim buries his face into Jason’s neck and grips his shirt hard and tight in his hands.

“I’m scared he’ll hurt you.” Tim sighs, closing his eyes as he tries to slow his own breathing. He focuses on Jason’s on the soft rhythm against his hands from Jason’s heartbeat.

“Let him, so long as he doesn’t touch you, I don’t care what he does.”

“No.” Tim pushes himself away from Jason’s chest, enough to look up at him. “I can’t Jay, I won’t let him hurt you.”

“And I’m not going to let him hurt you anymore.” There’s a light growl to Jason’s voice and Tim hates that it makes his chest tighten when he’s as worried as he is. He shouldn’t let Jason’s voice get to him like that.

“I don’t know what to do, I have no idea what to say. Anything that I do that he doesn’t like will make him snap.” Tim runs his hand through his hair, pulling it a little.

“Then don’t do it alone, whatever it is, just in case.” Jason strokes his thumb over Tim’s cheek lightly. Tim watches him for a long moment and tries to think. He won’t do it tonight, he can’t. So much has happened in such a short amount of time that he doesn’t really know what to do with himself. All he knows for sure, is that he’s pregnant, that he wants it to be Jason’s and he really, really wants Jason, that he has for a long time now and was too stupid to let himself have him when he knew he could have. He also knows that he really wants to kiss him right now. And he’s done denying himself things.

Tim pushes himself up onto his toes, but still, he doesn’t have all the height he needs and so his arms wrap around Jason’s neck and he pulls him down to kiss him. Jason’s hands are instantly holding Tim’s waist and pressing his hips against his own to keep him stable as he follows Tim’s lead and kisses back. Tim’s rough and desperate and Jason shows the same urgency when he returns Tim’s kisses. There’s excessive amounts of tongue and their teeth clash a bit and it’s just messy and not at all that pleasant. And yet it still feels so right.

When Jason tries to pull back for a moment Tim follows him and doesn’t let him break the kiss. Jason makes a small sound of protest but makes no further action to pull away. He lets himself melt and sink into Tim’s body, letting the younger have full control. Tim’s hands pull at the back of Jason’s hair and he pushes his body so hard up against Jason’s that he nearly loses his balance and has to take a step back to gain it. But any further efforts from Tim to push Jason back and presumably pin him against something is countered by Jason leaning back into Tim and refusing to budge. Tim knows why he does it, knows that Jason doesn’t want things to be too compromising should someone come back into the room, should Kon come back. As it is, they’re playing with fire. But that doesn’t mean that Tim won’t whine in disappointment at the fact that Jason won’t let this go any further.

“You know I meant it the other night when I said I loved you, I was telling the truth. I love you, Jason.” Tim pants, completely out of breath and still wanting more but he holds back, he knows that right now, he needs to stop, take some time to figure out what’s going on in his head then sort out his situation. Jason smiles and cups Tim’s face in both hands and leans in to kiss him again, softer and it doesn’t linger too long.

“I know you did. I love you too, have for a long time now.” Jason keeps their foreheads together and Tim’s face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over soft skin. Tim reaches up to hold onto Jason’s wrists, giving them a light squeeze.

“I know you have.”

“We’ll work this out.” Jason tries to assure him but Tim can’t help that he feels like from this point on everything will go wrong.

“I know.” Really, he’s just hoping for the best at this stage.

Tim pulls Jason back in against his body and cuddles as close and hard as he possibly can into Jason’s body. He doesn’t want to have to leave or pull away, wants to hold Jason and in turn have Jason hold onto him forever. Yes, he loved Kon, but he knew both Jason and Bruce were right. He should have asked himself a long time ago if Kon really cared if he ever would, but he guesses he just held onto pointless hope that maybe things would change and Kon would get better. If he was honest, things couldn’t have been getting any worse. He’s known for a long time Kon hasn’t cared about him as much as he says and he knows that he should have given up a very long time ago. But when you’re in love you do stupid things. Tim knew he couldn’t keep doing that anymore.

Jason rests his head on top of Tim’s, his chin sat lightly right in the middle of Tim’s skull. His arms hold Tim close but his hold isn’t tight, it’s a little loose and not nearly as strong as Tim had hoped it’d be. And the tighter he holds onto the Jason doesn’t change that which makes his chest hurt a little. He knew Jason loved him, didn’t need him to say it to know, but in the back of his head was Jason’s voice saying how he didn’t want this, how he hoped it was Kon’s. Because despite what’s been said between them now, Jason hadn’t said anything about it again and Tim was getting worried.

“D-did you mean it? When you said you want it to be his when you said you didn’t want this?” Tim asks in a small voice, scared of Jason’s answer, scared he’ll say yes, scared he really meant it. Jason squeezes Tim for a second, which is only slightly comforting.

“No. I did in the beginning, finding out that it might be mine… I didn’t know what to think. But I didn’t want it to be mine. Honestly, I don’t care either way now, because it’s yours, Tim, it’s your kid, I want to be there for you and for them. I guess after everything was explained and it all started to make sense… the idea of it being mine isn’t as scary anymore. I don’t really want it to be his, just because of the way he treats you, not because then it wouldn’t be mine.” Jason mumbles into Tim’s hair, his hold around Tim’s body loosening again, but now it doesn’t make Tim feel as bad about it. Jason wants this, wants to be there and that’s enough for Tim.

“But do you _want_ it to be yours?” Tim asks, his voice still small and soft. Jason doesn’t respond for a moment, just keeps his arms around Tim and keeps looking off into nothingness. A few minutes pass before he pulls back a little and looks Tim in the eye.

“You want it to be mine,” Jason states, because Tim had already said it. Tim nods and finally lets go of Jason. “I want you to be happy.”

“You want what I want.” Tim confirms and Jason offers him a soft smile and a small nod.

“If you’re hoping for it to be mine, then so am I. But if it isn’t, it won’t change anything.” Jason assures and Tim feels a little better about it. He knows Jason’s mind is pretty well made up, that he’s going to be there through anything and everything.

“Thank you.” Tim mumbles almost soft enough for it to be a whisper. Jason gives him a sideways smile and reaches up to brush Tim’s hair back and tuck it behind his ear.

“Honestly, you don’t have to thank me Babybird.” He hums and Tim averts his eyes to the floor.

“Do you still find it weird that I’m… y’know?” Tim asks and Jason chuckles lightly and shrugs.

“I mean… not really. Out of all the things the Joker could’ve done to you I feel like this is far from the worst.” Jason notes and Tim just makes a small sound of agreement. “I think the thing that’s the weirdest about the situation isn’t even the fact that you’re pregnant, but the fact that it could be ours. That you’re possibly carrying a genetic mashup of you and me. That’s the weirdest thing about it for me.”

“Why?” Tim asks with a small chuckle. Because what was so weird about that concept? That’s how babies worked; the parents fuck and their genes mix and match and produce a new human. It’s not weird at all, is one hundred percent natural.

“I don’t know, I guess it’s just because I never thought I’d have kids and then I adopted Michael and I told myself I’d never have my own, like my genes, my blood.” Jason averts his eyes to Tim’s belly. He looks like he wants to touch it again and Tim hopes that if he does he will. He likes the way it feels to have Jason’s palm pressed against his stomach.

“Don’t get too excited Todd, they might not be yours.” Tim points out and Jason steps forward again and much to Tim’s delight reaches out and presses his hands to Tim’s belly.

“But it could be, you want it to be. And even if they’re not it’s still your kid Tim, _your_ blood. God…”

“I think you need more time to sit and let this sink in and think then I do if I’m honest.” Tim covers Jason’s hands with his own and smiles softly, more to himself then Jason.

“It’s just so… we’re gonna have a little you running around.” Jason’s smile couldn’t possibly get any softer or wider. Tim bites his lip and looks down at their hands on his still flat stomach.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, anything could happen.” Tim points out because if he was honest, the chances of something going wrong were higher than the chances of it going right. Jason shakes his head lightly and moves one of his hands to cover Tim’s instead.

“Don’t think like that. Everything’s going to be okay. You’re gonna have this baby Tim.” Jason sounds so sure like every pregnancy is smooth sailing, like the fact he’s a guy and he’s pregnant doesn’t make those odds even worse. Tim liked that Jason tended to think more on the positive side of things but he couldn’t help but think of everything that could go wrong so easily.

“That’s the plan.” Tim says instead because he doesn’t want to be like that. Jason leans in and nuzzles his nose against the side of Tim’s, making the younger giggle slightly.

“I love you.” He whispers and Tim bites his bottom lip and closes his eyes.

“I love you too Jason.” It felt right saying it. More so then it ever has when he’s said those three words to Kon. It hurt thinking about it, being stuck and torn between the two. But he knew where his heart really wanted to be, and it wasn’t with Kon, not anymore, not after the past few months. Jason lifts his head again and gives Tim a soft smile, though it’s not full and looks a little sad.

“You should probably go back to Kon.” He mumbles and Tim grips his hands tighter and shakes his head.

“I don’t want to.”

“I know. I don’t want you to either, mainly because I’m scared of what he’ll do. But you have to, for now, Tim, until you’ve thought this through and decided what you’re going to do.” Jason mumbles, and he manages to free his hands from Tim’s and pull them back, keeping them to himself.

“I don’t need to think about it.” Tim urges, he’d made up his mind days ago now. He knew Kon didn’t want this, he knew Kon wasn’t happy with it. He did know what Kon saw in him anymore, why he still wanted him at all. He was scared the answer was nothing and that Kon didn’t want him, he was just using him.

“Yes, you do. Because you still love him, I know you do and I get it, I get why you’ve stuck with him for so long. And maybe you’ve made up your mind, maybe you’ve decided you’ve chosen me, but you need time. A lot has happened in just a few weeks babe, give yourself a few days to think about how you’re going to go about doing this.” Jason leans in and kisses Tim’s forehead lightly, but he still keeps his hands to himself. Tim doesn’t want to take time to think about it, he’s done his thinking and he’s decided that he’s wasted enough time. But he knows what Jason really means; that he has to figure things out with Kon. It’ll be hard and he’ll have to be careful.

“Okay… but once I’ve figured it out… what’ll that mean for us?” Tim asks and Jason smiles softly and pushes his hair back again. Maybe he should get it cut.

“How about we worry about that later?” Jason hums and Tim sighs lightly but nods. He knew why Jason was doing this, knew that he was trying to be the better person about this, letting Tim make the choice himself without forcing him to choose like Kon was. That didn’t mean he liked the fact that he had to make a choice anyway.

“Fine.”

“It’ll be okay Babybird. You’re smart, you’ll work it out.” Jason assures before he fully steps back and after a moment turns and heads out the room. If Tim was smart, he wouldn’t be in this position right now.

\- - -

Tim doesn’t want to go back to his room right away. He’s still feeling pretty okay with everything at the moment and isn’t ready to face Kon, one on one and talk about this yet. He doesn’t know what Kon will do or how he’s actually feeling about all of this but right now, he doesn’t want this small part of happiness and comfort that Jason has left him with to go. So he does the next best thing and goes to Michael’s room instead. Because anything Tim doesn’t know Michael does and anything Michael doesn’t know Tim does when it comes to Jason. That’s just how he worked. Sometimes Roy will know, he always finds out in the end anyway. Sometimes it’ll be Dick, sometimes Damian and even Bruce. But when it came to talking about feelings and thoughts concerning certain situations, Jason went to either Tim or Michael first.

He hesitates for a moment outside Michael’s door before he knocks lightly. He waits for a moment with his eyes to the floor and his mind hundreds of miles away, so caught up in thought he almost doesn’t notice Michael open the door. One glance at each other and they both know what they need to talk about. Michael lets Tim in without a word, shutting the door behind him and sitting on the edge of his bed. Tim follows suit.

“Did he tell you?” Tim asks after a minute of silence and Michael shakes his head.

“He said something had happened, that he was scared he’d fucked everything up. I didn’t really know what to do to help because I didn’t know what’d happened. I told him it was fine, that you’d never hate him for something he’d done. I remember him mumbling something about Kon. He wouldn’t repeat what he’d said when I asked.” Michael stares off across the room. Tim nods his head slowly.

“What has he told you about us? About how things were before I started dating Kon, after he came back from the dead?” Tim watches Michael out the corner of his eye as he pulls his legs up onto the bed and hugs his knees to his chest. He looks so much younger just from the act.

“Not much really. He used to talk about it around Dick a lot, about how they’d mess around, Dad would tease him about how you were better. It was always banter, I never paid much attention. But I remember he said he missed it, hated that you’d latched onto Kon as tight as you had, didn’t care that Dick was tied to Wally.” Michael shrugs and Tim bites his lip.

“What about before he came back here, when his mind was still… not all there?”

Michael shakes his head. “He said it was just Roy then.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Who else knows?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Roy does, maybe even Dick. I doubt Bruce does, he wouldn’t have let Jason set foot in this place again.” Tim hums and Michael looks at him with slight concern.

“What happened between you two?” He asks like it wasn’t where Tim was taking this.

“You’ve gotta understand that the Jason he was back then and the Jason he is now are nowhere near the same person and they never will be. Jason won’t go back to that ever, I don’t want you to come out of this thinking of him any differently.”

“Does he know you’re telling me this?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure. Sometimes it’s like he knows everything I’m thinking before I even do.” Tim pulls his legs up as well and curls in on himself like Michael was sat.

“Okay. I’m all ears.”

“I’m telling you this so you understand why… why I’m not with him, why I’m with Kon.”

“You love Kon.” Michael throws in and Tim smiles a little sadly.

“I do. I have for a long time. But I’ve loved Jason from the start. He’s the reason I became Robin. I was obsessed, after he died… I wanted people to remember him. But I wasn’t Jason. I couldn’t fight like him, couldn’t do the things he did. So I took on Red Robin.”

“After he was back?” Michael cuts in and Tim nods.

“Yeah, though we didn’t really know it was him. We obviously had suspicions, put the clues together and figured it out. As soon as he knew we knew who he was, things started getting really dangerous. Jason hated me, wanted to kill me thinking Bruce had replaced him like he meant nothing. I was the one who pushed Bruce to take me on as Robin, Bruce didn’t want another Robin.”

“And he ended up with two more.” Michael throws in to try and keep the mood light. Tim smiles and nods again.

“Damian wasn’t planned either.”

“None of you were.” Michael notes, finally turning his head to look at Tim.

“True. Anyway… Jason tried killing me, a lot of times, as you know. I went from being a kid who wanted to be noticed by his idle to being hunted by my idle and wishing he never noticed me in seconds. I wanted to throw it in a few times, sat up late at night panicking over it and telling myself it wasn’t worth it. But I knew that’s what he wanted, he wanted me to quit so he could refill the shoes I was never meant to wear.

“When he realised I had more fight in me then what he’d been hoping he changed his tactic. He started trying to mess with my head and it worked. I wanted him, I didn’t care the risks anymore. I was falling in love. We were obsessed with the thought of each other, but for completely different reasons. Jason wanted to take my life and I wanted to be a part of his. I was young, I was stupid and I wasn’t going to give up. If Bruce had known he would’ve never let me put a suit on ever again, not while I was Tim Wayne.”

“Wouldn’t have stopped you though.” Michael hums and Tim shrugs.

“Couldn’t tell you, but it would have made Jason happy. But Jason figured it out, that I was infatuated with him and so he used it to his advantage. I was doing patrol as normal, on my own because I was long over needing Bruce to watch my back. Jason hadn’t been seen in a few weeks, Bruce was getting suspicious. We knew he was up to something but we couldn’t’ve ever guessed what. He got me cornered before I even knew he was anywhere in the same city as me. And maybe you don’t really know this because you’ve never experienced it but Jason is good at seduction, really fucking good.” Tim chuckles lowly and Michael pulls a face.

“I mean, like ninety percent of people trip over themselves for him, especially when he acts like he’s interested. So I know exactly what you’re talking about. But I can only imagine it’s worse being seduced by him then _trying_ to seduce him.”

“You’d be right there. Jason learnt a lot of things at a young age he shouldn’t have. He already had power over me with how deep I was, all he had to do was wear a smirk and use the right tone of voice, move his body the right way and I was in a trance. And so when he… when he said the things he wanted to do to me, I didn’t even think when I agreed.” Tim sighs and looks back to Michael.

“He hurt you like Kon does now.”

“Yeah. Back then I hated it, but he was like a drug… I just didn’t want him to leave. But I got used to it pretty quickly and once he realised I had he stopped and disappeared. It sucked. It hurt so fucking much that he was just gone. Not long after that though I got with Kon because… I knew like Jason he was unstable and was most likely able to treat me like Jason had. I forced myself to fall in love with him like I had Jason.

“Then he came back and everything was different but… I still loved him. And when he came to me one time and said that he was sorry for everything he’d done I said I missed him and that I wanted it again. He didn’t refuse, but when he… when we had sex again he didn’t hurt me, he…” Tim trails off. Michael was Jason’s son, adopted yes but his son, all the same, this probably wasn’t really something he wanted to be hearing.

“It was like he was making love to you instead of just fucking you. And you weren’t used to it. It scared you, that’s why you didn’t go with him, why you stayed with Kon.” Michael offers and Tim can’t help that a small smile creeps across his lips. Michael was a smart kid.

“Yeah. But then… then Kon started to really hurt me, not in ways that felt good and I realised that even though Jason’s intentions were meant to bring pain in the beginning, that he could never actually do that to a person, not after everything he’d been through in his life. But Kon could and he did. But I didn’t go, because the thought of Jason treating me like I mattered scared me.”

“But now you’ve changed your mind.”

“I did a long time ago, it’s just recent events have led to me wanting Jason more.” Tim mumbles and Michael watches him for a long moment. They don’t say anything for at the least five minutes if Tim was to make a guess.

“Are you only telling me this because you want to date my adopted father and that there’s a possibility you’re carrying his child?” Michael suddenly asks. Tim looks at him wide-eyed with shock for a moment. He hadn’t really expected Michael to so abruptly and suddenly come to that conclusion.

“I… I guess.” Tim looks away and snorts to himself. “It sounds pretty stupid when you say it like that.”

“You went through all that just to get to this? You could’ve just said ‘listen, kid, I’ve been in love with Jason since I was your age, even younger and I’m probably going to date him’. That’s it.” Michael throws his hands up a little and Tim curls more into himself.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Honestly… I’m glad you told me. A lot of things make sense now.” Michael smiles and unfolds his legs from being pressed into his chest.

“I’m glad. Just… Jason isn’t that person anymore. He’ll never hurt me again.”

“I know he won’t. I don’t feel any differently toward him. He’s still the guy who saved my life, who _gave_ me a life.” Michael chuckles to himself and leans forward a little. “But if you’re expecting that if things ever go far enough between you two that I’ll start calling you Dad 2.0 you can think again.”

Tim laughs at the thought, covering his mouth with his hand and closing his eyes as he rests his head against his knees. “That’s not what I was thinking at all.”

“But like… I wouldn’t mind if it did. You make Dad happy, I don’t want that to change.” Michael admits and Tim smiles widely to himself, the sight of it obstructed and hidden in his knees so that Michael doesn’t see it. Jason made Tim happy too, so happy.

“Hey,” Michael mumbles after a moment and Tim looks up to him, “if it’s Jay’s, that’ll mean it’s my sibling.” Tim hadn’t even considered it. And although it’d only be adopted, that was how this family worked anyway. Tim smiles softly and nods his head lightly.

“Yeah, it will be.”

“I’ve always wanted a sibling.” Michael says it more to himself but him admitting that makes Tim smile more. If he can give that to Michael, that’s probably a better feeling than anything else.

He looks up again, not at Michael and moves one of his hands so that it’s pressed against his stomach. If his mind wasn’t made up before, it most certainly was now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	15. No love without loss

It felt like a weight had been lifted from Tim’s chest after finally talking to someone about that. He wasn’t sure why he thought it had to be Michael, but it was done now. Jason put the pieces together after he found out Kon hurt Tim, realised why Tim stayed with him. And Michael was the only other person who knew about Kon beside Jason. He didn’t really have anyone else to go to. He doesn’t plan for anyone else to find out about what Kon does, he wanted to keep that from everyone, but he supposes it helps to have someone know about it. Despite the fact that the weight of that was gone now, there was still the weight of having to talk to Kon. He was more scared than anything else, but he was also determined.

He makes his way back to his room, chest tight and stance tall and straight. He didn’t really know what he was going to say or how he was going to go about saying it, but he knew that he had to tell Kon what he’d chosen. He knows he has to tell him that he wants it to be Jason’s baby, that he wants Jason, that he doesn’t love him anymore. The last one isn’t the complete truth. It’ll take him a while to not love Kon if he ever does. Because despite it all Kon has been there through a lot and for a really long time. And it hasn’t always been bad, most of the time it was good, which was what made this that much harder. He steps into his room fully prepared to be as honest as possible to Kon with everything, but the plans he had in his mind for it all fall apart as soon as he sets eyes on him.

Kon looks up at Tim from where he’s sat on his bed and offers Tim a small smile that’s a little sad, his eyes darting down to Tim’s stomach for a second before he shifts himself so that there’s room for Tim to climb into his lap and beckons him over. Tim can’t stop himself from moving across the room and crawling up and sitting himself in Kon’s lap, cuddling into his chest the moment Kon’s arms are around him. There’s a beat of silence in which Tim constantly opens his mouth to start talking only to shut it moments later and not get anything out at all. Kon’s the one to speak up when he moves his hand slowly and presses his palm against Tim’s stomach, much like Jason had, like he was expecting to feel something there.

“So, this is really happening.” Kon mumbles and Tim bites his bottom lip and nods.

“Yeah. I still haven’t wrapped my head around it completely.” Tim swallows thickly and rests his own hand beside Kon’s, not covering it. He was still trying to will himself to tell Kon about everything, but right now he was sat in a dangerous spot if things went wrong.

“But it could be Jason’s.” Kon mumbles and he doesn’t sound angry, but Tim knows that he is. He has a lot of reasons to be, but that doesn’t mean that Tim’s comfortable with him being that way.

“I’m sorry.” Tim sighs and he moves his hand to slot his fingers between Kon’s. “I should have told you sooner, all of you. This wouldn’t have happened then.”

“There’s no way to find out is there?” Kon’s tone of voice is so flat and emotionless that it makes Tim feel even worse about it all. Maybe he shouldn’t have let himself be in this situation in the first place, he should’ve done better but still, he didn’t want this. Kon might have a right to be angry, but he has no right to be mad at Tim.

“Not until it’s born.”

“Why’re you risking it then?” Kon growls and Tim pulls back from his chest so suddenly he nearly topples out of his lap.

“What do you mean?” Tim doesn’t want to sound angry or upset, it’ll make Kon more aggressive and he doesn’t need that right now.

“Why would you want it to be his?” There’s a lot of reasons, they all come to Tim’s mind but he knows better than to list them off.

“It’s still mine Kon. Regardless if it’s yours or Jason’s, it’s my baby and I’m keeping it.” Tim grits his teeth, his voice full of determination and slight anger. Kon opens his mouth to respond to that but Tim cuts in. “It’s my choice to make, no one else’s.” He snaps.

Kon watches him for a moment and his eyes narrow a little. Tim’s heart beats unevenly, and not in a good way and he knows Kon can hear it. He swallows thickly and suddenly, like a switch has been flicked, the fight in him dies.

“You said you wanted it to be mine.” Kon growls and Tim shake his head.

“I said I hope it’s yours.” And it was a lie, that’s what Tim wants to say after that but he doesn’t.

“We can be sure Tim, we can do that.”

“I’m not killing this baby just because there’s a chance it might not be yours! Hell, I wouldn’t terminate it if I was _sure_ it wasn’t yours.” Tim pushes himself away from Kon and out of his lap and grasp. He shuffles back until there’s a space between the two of them and curls in on himself. Defence, if Kon does lash out, he won’t be able to go for his stomach.

“Don’t you want it to be mine?”

“I don’t care who’s it is Kon! It’s _my_ baby before it’s anyone else’s. Jason doesn’t care either way and nor should you. If I do keep it and it is Jason’s what are you going to do Kon?” Tim demands, and he’s yelling now because he’s mad and he’s scared.

“If it’s Jason’s, we’re done.” He spits. Tim’s heart feels like it sinks into the pit of his gut. Despite how much he wants and loves Jason, he still does love Kon, and even though he was planning on calling it quits and breaking this off, hearing it from Kon hurt. Tim swallows again. His eyes burn and he has to look away. He should have been expecting that, but he wasn’t and he definitely didn’t think it’d hurt as much as it did.

“Maybe we should quit while we’re ahead.” Tim hisses bitterly and Kon rolls his eyes and leans forward. Tim wants to retract away from him further but he has nowhere to go. “You’re only pissed because it _might_ be his!”

“You want it to be Jason’s, don’t you? That’s why you won’t get rid of it, not because it could be mine but because it might be his.” Tim can’t tell if Kon’s actually getting closer to him or not but his flight response is trying to win over his fight and telling him he needs to run away as fast as possible.

“I said, I don’t care who’s it is because it’s mine before it’s either of yours!” Tim snaps and Kon looks ready to hit him so he curls in on himself tighter to make sure there’s no chance of him getting a shot in to his stomach.

“If the situation was different and Jason told you to kill it you would.” Kon spits and Tim, for once, does want to hit Kon.

“If the situation was different Jason wouldn’t be telling me to kill it, and if he was I’d be saying the same thing to him as I am you. But I wouldn’t have to, because unlike you, Jason isn’t selfish and he puts other people first. Especially the people he loves.” Tim knew he was standing dangerously close to the edge of a crumbling cliff and that the more he said the weaker that edge got and the closer to falling he was. But he wasn’t going to stop. Kon’s hands are balled into fits against Tim’s bed and everything in Tim’s body was telling him to get out of there but he couldn’t move.

“You can’t tell me that Jason isn’t selfish.”

“He isn’t.” Tim defends.

“If he wasn’t, he would have stayed the fuck away from you!” Kon isn’t just yelling now, he’s close to losing it completely and Tim knows he’s in a dangerous spot and he needs to get out of it fast.

“I’m glad he didn’t! And yeah, I do hope it’s Jason because at least I know he means it when he says he cares, when he says he won’t hurt me, that he loves me! I know he’ll be there when I need him, when _we_ need him.” Tim’s arms are around his legs, holding onto the other with so much force that it hurts and his whole body shakes.

Kon’s eyes are wild, filled with nothing but anger and Tim can see the final strings of his control snapping. He grabs hold of Tim’s arm hard and pulls him toward himself and Tim tries to fight back but there’s no way he could have hope in fighting against Kon’s hold. He does the next best thing, curl in on himself, making sure his stomach is protected before anything else. He’s not losing this baby, he’s not letting Kon rip this from him too. Kon seems to stop for a moment when Tim does and suddenly the grip on his arm isn’t painfully tight anymore. He slowly opens his eyes and looks up to Kon.

“I do love you, I’ve always loved you.” Kon spits and maybe if there was something in his voice that was even close to proving that Tim might have thought it was genuine, but he wouldn’t have believed it.

“When have you ever done anything to prove that in the last year Kon? When?!” Tim shouts, yanking his arm free from Kon’s and pushing himself up from the bed and moving back, keeping his arms over his stomach. “It’s been years since you said you loved me and I actually believed it, when I was able to know you were telling the truth. You don’t hurt the ones you love Kon, and since the start you’ve done nothing but hurt me.” Tim can’t help that it comes out in a sob. Saying it out loud hurt more than it did saying it a thousand times over in his mind.

Kon looks like he’s speechless for a good few seconds before he moves and stands up as well, but he doesn’t make a point of walking toward Tim. And when he opens his mouth to finally give his reply Tim stops him. “No, whatever you have to say I don’t want to hear it. You can’t prove you love me because you don’t. And I’m tired of trying to hold onto you just because I made myself fall in love with you.”

“So that’s just it?” Kon growls and Tim bites his lip and looks away.

“I mean nothing to you Kon and you know it. Fucking just tell me the truth for once.” When Kon doesn’t say anything and the room is filled with nothing but silence for a full minute, Tim knows that it’s now or never.

“I want you to leave, and I… I don’t want you to come back.” Tim’s chest feels like it’s too tight, but those words make him feel a little better. Maybe he wouldn’t feel so restrained if he didn’t feel like he was seconds away from being beaten to death.

“You can’t do that, if that’s my-”

“ _If_ it’s your child you’ll never know! I’m not… I’m not risking you ever hurting my baby!” Tim cuts in.

“You-”

“No! Kon it’s over okay I… I can’t do this anymore.” Tim shakes his head and he knows that the longer he stays right where he is, alone with Kon in his room, the higher the chance of him getting hit is. And so he moves, swiftly and carefully out of his room. Naturally Kon follows and he’s glad.

“After all this time, all these years, you’re just gonna quit because there’s a chance Jason knocked you up.” Kon spits and Tim shakes his head again.

“Not because Jason might have gotten me pregnant, but because you don’t care about me! I wanted it to be you Kon, I wanted forever, I… fuck I used to dream about it, having you forever, marrying you, possibly having kids and you just… obviously, we were never on the same page.” Tim stops in the lounge again, not because he wants to but because his legs don’t want to take him any further as he starts to cry, covering his face in his hands. Because he told himself not to mention that, not to bring it up but he did. Because it was all true, once it had been what he’d wanted.

Kon doesn’t say anything but Tim’s painfully aware of how close he’s standing behind him, He lowers his arms and wraps them around his stomach again, shaking his head. “I wanted you so bad Kon, I wanted to make it work, make it real.”

“We still can.” Kon mumbles and Tim laughs almost hysterically.

“Don’t fucking give me that shit Kon. Stop lying to yourself, stop lying to me.” Tim spits again and Kon’s hands clench into fists at his sides again. Tim doesn’t move, but he doesn’t take his concentration off Kon or shift his arms for a second. He’s scared, but he’s trying his hardest not to show it. Before Kon can say anything Dick walks around the doorway and into the room, stopping short when he sees the two. Tim’s relieved, Kon won’t try and attack him while someone else is around. But that relief doesn’t last when Jason steps in behind Dick. Because it’s like the moment Kon sees him, that animal side breaks out again.

“This is because of you! Because you’re a selfish asshole and you couldn’t fucking stop yourself!” Kon shouts and Tim panics when Jason, instead of letting this play out actually feeds Kon more to make him angrier.

“You know what, yeah I’m selfish. If by selfish you mean I’m better for him then you are.” Jason hisses and Kon actually growls, like an animal and Tim grabs hold of his arm out of instinct, so that he doesn’t go straight for Jason. Tim’s mouth opens but it’s not the sound of his own voice that he hears. But he wished it was.

“I’ll always be before you, especially since I won’t hurt him like you do.”

And it’s the real breaking point. Tim never told anyone because if Kon had found out, he knew he’d lash out. And suddenly Kon’s attention isn’t on Jason, but on Tim, and he’s mad and Tim wishes it wasn’t. “You told him?”

“N-no.” Tim almost whimpers because he’s scared, he doesn’t know what Kon’s going to do, and he can do whatever it is so fast that no one can see it coming.

“He didn’t tell me Kon, I saw what you did. I knew it was you. You fucking tell him you love him, that you care, tell me, does he fucking hit you? Does he?”

“Jason, please stop.” Tim whimpers again but Jason doesn’t hear him.

“You don’t hurt the people you love!” Jason snaps. Dick’s staring wide eyed at Tim, and the only reason Tim knows is because he’s the only person Tim can look at right now for some reason.

“Wait, Kon hit you- You fucking hit him?” Dick spits and Tim wants to sink away and pretend this never happened. He shouldn’t have told them, he should have lied and said he knew it was Kon’s.

“And it’s not the first time is it Tim? You fucking said it was but I knew you were lying.” Jason’s looking at Tim with so much pain in his eyes and his whole body is shaking with either rage or fear, maybe both, probably both. “You tried to defend him even though he did that to you, and I did nothing because… because somewhere in the back of my mind I was telling myself he was what you wanted, and I was hoping so bad that things would work out for you. Because I want you to be happy Tim.”

“We were happy! You fucked that up.” Kon spits and Tim shakes his head and looks away from them.

“No, we weren’t. You hate how much I work, are ungrateful of the fact that every spare moment of my time I was spending with you, you hated that I’ve been close to Jason from the beginning. Because you saw him as a threat, you knew he could do better, that if it ever came to the crunch, this would happen and I’d choose him.” Tim mumbles and he doesn’t want to be saying this while he’s standing so close to Kon, holding onto him because he has no defence like this.

“I’ve never been wrong about you.” Kon hisses and Tim recoils a little more into himself. He wasn’t wrong if he thought about it. Tim hadn’t noticed that at some point during their exchange Bruce had come into the room and was standing beside Dick and Jason with a gaze to kill locked onto Kon. Tim doesn’t bother continuing on with wherever Kon was trying to take that. He was done, he was tired and he felt broken. He just wanted it to be over.

“I said I wanted you to leave.” Tim mumbles after a pause and Kon’s fists clench at his sides tighter. Tim wants to let go and move away but he’s scared that as soon as he does Kon will attack Jason.

“You also said you wanted forever, so which one is it Tim?” Kon spits, like Tim was in the wrong here for messing around with Kon’s emotions. Tim hated it, hated him for what he was doing.

“You ruined your chance at forever Kon.” Jason throws in and every time he opens his mouth Tim wants to hit him just a little bit more. And as if he wasn’t already submerged seven feet under water and attracting sharks with his thrashing, he adds in. “I don’t plan on doing the same.”

Tim’s grip on Kon’s arm tightens impossibly when Kon growls, something animalistic that Tim’s heard a lot of times. But he had no hope in ever holding Kon back at all, there was never any point in holding onto him in the first place. Kon shoves at Tim and when he scrambles to keep his hold on him and cries out for him to stop, he turns toward Tim and all that anger is focused on him within a second. Tim lets go almost instantly and his flight instinct kicks in and he goes to jump back and away from Kon. But his reflexes are far slower than Kon’s and even though he’s not holding him back anymore, Kon swings his arm out at him to really shove him off. Kon’s elbow smacks into the side of Tim’s abdomen hard. And Tim was already moving back, but the impact has him losing his footing and he stumbles back. There’s nothing for him to catch himself on and he lands hard on his ass and elbows. It hurts, but he’s had way worse and the pain from Kon hitting him is worse, and he’s taught himself not to make sound when Kon hits him.

All within the same beat, Jason’s screaming out something at Kon and going to advance on Kon at the same time Kon turns his attention back to him and goes at him. Jason knows, they all do that he has no hope in ever being able to equal Kon in a fight, and yet he looks damn ready to try. But Dick has hold of him, is trying to pull him back and out of the way, trying to get himself between the two like a human shield. But Bruce’s reaction time is even faster than Dick’s and he’s between the two of them and Kon within a second. And he knows that he can’t fight Kon either, but he can and he will defend his family. Kon doesn’t even falter in his movement, even though Jason isn’t his target anymore. He still grabs hold of Bruce and despite Bruce’s skills in literately everything fighting, including self-defence there’s nothing that he could have done to protect himself from Kon using his hold on him to pull him in toward his body to give that bit more force to the punch he lands against his chest. And if Tim had superhuman hearing like Kon, he’d hear the unmistakable sound of Bruce’s ribs cracking. But he doesn’t need to hear it to know that it’s exactly what’s happened.

Jason is fast to shove Dick out the way as Kon lets Bruce fall to the side, coughing, and grinding his teeth so hard to stop any sounds of pain as he tries to shake it off and go back in to defend Jason. But Jason’s already moving and so is Kon, and Jason manages to get in faster. He ducks and twists his body, swinging his leg out and managing to land a kick to the side of Kon’s face. It doesn’t do much but deter him for a moment, but that moment is what Jason needed to draw the pistol from the back of his pants. And he’s not stupid, he knows regular bullets won’t do much more than his kick had. But Jason has always been like Bruce, keeping kryptonite in an easy to access place. And despite everything, Jason’s not here to kill anyone, not even Kon, not even after everything that he’s done. So naturally when the shot goes off and the bullet lodges itself in Kon’s shoulder, close to his collarbone, Jason hadn’t missed what he was aiming for. The kryptonite bullet has the same effect as a normal bullet would have on a human and so he cries out, stumbles back, grabs the wound on impulse and his advance stops. Jason keeps the pistol trained on Kon, aimed between the eyes.

“You’re lucky I don’t kill you.” Jason spits, yelling more than anything. The sound of the gunshot obviously got everyone’s attention and soon enough, Damian, Michael and Alfred are in the doorway. Dick’s holding Bruce up against him and as soon as Damian sees what’s happened he’s livid. Michael doesn’t even think twice as he ducks past everything and crouches down beside Tim, who’s pushed himself up against the wall and curled in on himself.

“Are you okay?” Tim misses whatever Damian starts screaming, his attention trapped by the tenderness and worry in Michael’s voice. Tim bites his bottom lip and shrugs.

“I don’t know, I’m fucking scared.”

“I meant physically, I don’t expect you to be okay emotionally at all.” Michael mumbles and Tim swallows thickly.

“I think so.”

“You make a move and I’ll fucking put another one in your skull!” Jason’s voice catches their attention and they both look over to see Jason attempting to hold Damian back from doing something stupid while also stepping up to Kon and pressing the barrel of his pistol to Kon’s forehead. “You’re gonna fucking turn around and walk out that door and you’re never gonna come back here ever again. And if you do, you’ll be dead before you even get fully in the door!”

Everyone’s watching them, and Kon snarls as he digs his fingers into the hole in his shoulder and rips the bullet from his body. It drops to the floor, a small thud as it hits the carpet and it’s the only sound for a long time. Jason gets impatient and cocks the pistol again and pushes it harder against Kon’s head. “Get the fuck out of our house.”

Kon’s reaction speed is fast, but even Tim doubts he could actually do anything to Jason before he squeezed the trigger. “You won’t do it, you don’t kill anymore.”

“Don’t tempt me, I’ll happily make exceptions.” Jason hisses and Kon slowly raises his hands in surrender. “Get out.”

Jason keeps the pistol on him as he turns, still with his hands raised and starts to make his way from the room, Jason follows his every step. Kon catches Tim’s glance and Michael pushes himself up a little so that he’s kneeling on one knee and held up straight and ready to move if he needs to get in the way. Kon stares Tim down the whole time Jason shoves him from the room. They disappear down the hall and for a moment Tim panics because no one can see them now and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. But Dick’s fast on his feet and following after them as Damian drops down beside Bruce and checks him over as best he can just by sight. Another gunshot fires and Tim squeezes his eyes shut and tries not to whimper. Not a moment later Dick and Jason come back into the room, Jason shoving the gun into the back of his pants as he moves over to Tim and drops down to his knees in front of him then reaches up to cup his cheeks.

“It’s okay baby, you’re okay now.” Jason mumbles, leaning in to rest his forehead against Tim’s. Tim reaches up and wraps his hands around Jason’s wrists and shakes with the sudden release of relief and the pressure of everything else he was feeling gushing through his veins and from his body.

“W-what… that shot.” Tim whimpers and Jason gives him a sad smile.

“A warning. Right here,” Jason reaches down and presses a finger against Tim’s side, right above his pelvis. “It wouldn’t have pierced anything.”

“Okay… good.” Tim mumbles and Jason’s shoulders sag and he gives Tim a pained look.

“You don’t want anything to happen to him, even after what he’s done to you.” Jason sighs and Tim closes his eyes and curls more into himself.

“I love him Jason.” Tim sobs and Jason shifts so he can sit himself down and pull Tim into his lap, cuddling him close.

“I know you do baby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out :)


	16. Moving forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So ao3 just hates me, just straight up wants me dead...
> 
> Check out my tumblr, or even my Wattpad just in case I deleted from this god awful site. Ahahaha fuck
> 
> @bloodthirstymerc for both accounts

Kon broke three of Bruce’s ribs, and just like Tim’s bruise had looked, it instantly went a disgusting purply black colour. Like Tim, he was lucky that it wasn’t bad enough that his ribs had pierced anything. Dick and Damian bandage him up and pump him with some morphine to lessen the pain, even though Bruce tries to convince them he doesn’t need it. Tim got lucky. The elbow he copped bruised horribly, but no other damage was done. Tim was relieved, but not as much as Jason seemed to be. He hadn’t let go of Tim since they finished examining him to assess the damage. His arms were wrapped tightly around Tim’s belly as he held the younger against his chest, his chin either resting on Tim’s head or buried in the crook of his neck. They were all sat around in the cave, silent and avoiding looking at each other for too long. It was Dick who finally spoke up after a good fifteen minutes of silence. He sighs and looks up at Tim, arms crossed over his chest and leaning back against the bench Bruce was meant to be laying on. He wasn’t of course, instead he was standing like it didn’t matter.

“Why didn’t you say anything Tim?” He asks. And there’s some accusation to his voice, like he’s annoyed. But Tim knows that he’s stressed and worried, nothing more to it. Tim looks down to his feet and shrugs and Dick makes a small noise and shakes his head, pushing himself away from the bench and uncrossing his arms.

“I don’t care that you love him. Whatever stopped you from telling us, be it the fact you thought we’d have to force him away or something else; your safety, your _life_ above everything else is the most important thing there is. Even more important than defending him, Tim.”

“He wouldn’t have ever killed me Dick.”

“Just like he never would have hurt you.” Dick hisses and Tim shrinks back into himself and Jason’s arms. Dick sighs again and his aggression ebbs away making his shoulders sag. He reaches out and holds Tim’s chin up with the side of his hand.

“Listen… I get it okay. If Wally, y’know if he was like Kon I wouldn’t have ever told anyone either, not at first. I would have wanted to protect him because I love him so much… but there’s a line and really, it’s at the first time but… you always tell yourself it won’t happen again. After the second time something should be done.”

“I didn’t want to lose him.” Tim says weakly, his eyes filling with tears. Kon had been his forever for years and suddenly, he was gone.

“I know Tim, I get that, fuck I wouldn’t know what I’d do if I lost Wally, if I had to push him away like you did Kon. But you matter, you come first.”

“Kon does too.” Tim mumbles and Dick’s grip on his chin tightens and Tim notices that Jason’s hold on him does too.

“No. As soon as you hurt another person without reason, as soon as you use love as an excuse to get away with abuse, you don’t mean shit.” Dick growls and Tim shakes his head and closes his eyes. He thought this was going to be easy. That once Kon was gone he’d feel better and be able to move on, be able to find what he needed and wanted in Jason.

“I don’t hate him Dick, I can’t. Fuck I… I don’t think I’d even feel that way if he really hurt one of you.” That point was already proven, if the fact that he was still defending Kon even after he attempted to hurt and possibly kill Jason and actually hurt Bruce didn’t show that enough. He’s not even sure if he could hate Kon if he killed his baby.

“I know you don’t and you won’t for a long time. But you need to think about it long and hard. We just want you to be okay, to be safe. Take a look at this from our side, how would you feel if one of us were in your spot right now Tim? We’re worried, we care, we don’t want to lose you.”

“We love you.” Jason whispers as an addon. Tim’s heart feels tight and full. It’s not like he didn’t know all that already, because he did and he always has, but the fact that Jason’s holding him as tight as he is and the way he says it and that he follows through with kissing the side of Tim’s neck makes it all the more better. Dick smiles softly and lets go of Tim’s chin to instead push Tim’s hair back and tuck it behind his ear.

“And we’ll always be here, so long as you let us.” Dick hums and Tim smiles back at him and nods. Because he knows they will be, they always have and that if he doesn’t let them in, they can’t do anything to help him. They’ll still be there, they’ll still want to help and wait for him to be ready to accept that help, but waiting is all they can do until he lets them in.

“Thank you.” Tim mumbles and Jason kisses the side of his neck again.

“You don’t have to thank us, we know that you’ll always be there too when we need you.” Dick opens his arm a little. “Am I allowed a hug?”

Tim turns his head a little to look at Jason and he takes the chance while Tim’s in the right position to lean in and press a small kiss to Tim’s lips. Tim bites his bottom lip when he pulls back to try and not show his smile. Jason looks up to Dick and shrugs.

“I suppose, but I’m not letting him go.” Jason hums and Dick rolls his eyes and steps in that one step closer to wrap his arms around Tim and also Jason because he has to. Tim slides his arms around Dick’s waist and buries his face in the side of Dick’s neck.

“You like making things hard for everyone else.” Dick huffs and Jason’s smirk is hidden in the side of Tim’s neck.

“I’m good at making things hard.” Jason chuckles. Dick rolls his eyes again and pinches Jason’s side, making him twitch and shake the three of them.

Tim chuckles as well when Jason starts poking into Dick’s stomach while Dick continues to pinch him and the two sandwich him between them. It’s nice, it makes Tim feel so much better because no matter what happens in his life, so long as he holds onto his family, he’ll never lose this. Moments like these that make him feel like he’s on top of the world with everyone here with him. Sure, those feelings and moments have always involved Kon in some way, but he doesn’t need them to.

“Not sure if this has registered yet, but you’re kinda squishing me.” Tim chuckles and after a little bit the other two stop fidgeting and poking and prodding the other. Jason nuzzles his nose into Tim’s neck more and kisses him again. Except this time it’s a little different; softer, longer and better. Dick hums and kisses Tim’s forehead lightly.

“You don’t really mind.” He pushes himself a little closer, pulling both Jason and Tim closer to his body at the same time. Tim shakes his head and closes his eyes, just enjoying the feeling. Dick was right, he didn’t mind and he would have been okay with the moment lasting forever.

“I feel like I’m missing out here.” Michael complains as he steps up to them.

Jason smiles softly at him and manages to free his hand from between Tim and Dick’s bodies. Dick also moves one of his arms and pulls Michael into them. Tim doesn’t get a chance to move an arm and wrap it around Michael before he’s being pressed in against him and his arms snake around Tim’s body much like Jason’s had. Except Jason’s hand was still splayed against his belly, almost protectively. They shuffle a bit until they get comfortable again but it’s short lived when Damian comes over and states he wants a hug too. As a kid, Damian collectively avoided things like this, did anything he could to make sure he didn’t have to be involved in them. But once he reached about nineteen or twenty, that changed. It was like something had clicked in his mind and he realised that life was short and that moments like this with family and friends mattered the most. He was still the whiny, bratty one of the bunch, but he didn’t take things for granted anymore.

Not even a minute later Bruce moves over and attempts to pull them all into his arms, obviously not able to get his arms around their whole bulk. They all snuggle as close as possible and make do with what they can get away with. Tim can’t help that his face heats up a little because he’s in the centre of this man pile, he’s the one they’re all holding onto because they know he needs it, needs them. And he’s glad that he’s able to bow his head and bury his face into Dick’s chest so that no one can see that he starts to tear up and cry with all the flowing emotions in his body. But that doesn’t mean that in their silence they can’t hear his little hiccups and his mumbled thank yous. They don’t say anything, they don’t have to, and Tim’s thankful for that too. Things might look like they’re in a pretty bad place right now, but he’s not alone and he knows that everyone who is in this room right now will do everything in their power to hold onto him, to guide him, help him and pull him through. And that thought alone is enough to really make him cry.

\- - -

Obviously, they can’t stay like that forever, no matter how much Tim wishes that they could. Eventually they all start to pull away and go about things that have to be done for the rest of the evening. Bruce pulls back first of course, saying that regardless of anything that happens, he’s there, that he’s proud of them and he loves them. Damian and Dick pull off soon after as well, not without Dick giving Tim’s forehead another kiss first. And another few minutes after that Michael’s leaving as well. Jason holds Tim how he has been the whole time for a minute before he loosens his grip and gets Tim to turn around. Jason holds Tim’s hips as he pulls him in against him, leaning back against a bench. Tim in turn wraps his arms around Jason’s body, but doesn’t snuggle into his chest right away. They watch each other, Tim focusing most of his attention on the feeling of Jason’s thumbs rubbing his hip bones and Jason keeping his eyes locked with Tim’s.

“What do you wanna do?” Jason asks and Tim bites his lip and looks down between the two of them.

“I’m not sure Jay… I’m keeping it, regardless-”

“No, I meant now.” Jason stops him and Tim looks up at him with slightly confused eyes. “Like… I dunno… We could go get something to eat if you’re feeling up to it, or go watch a shitty movie, or a good one, anything.” Jason shrugs and Tim swallows a little thickly.

“I… I wasn’t expecting you to ask that if I’m honest.” Tim chuckles and Jason hums and wraps his arms around Tim’s waist to pull him in closer. Tim let’s himself curl into Jason’s chest now.

“Well I mean I think it’s the least I can do for what’s happened.”

“But I… I should go into the office tomorrow, so I can’t stay out doing things all night if you want me to get proper sleep.” Tim mumbles and he can feel Jason shaking his head.

“You’re not going anywhere tomorrow unless it’s somewhere you _want_ to go.”

“But-”

“Bruce isn’t going to let you step foot in that building, not after today.” Jason points out.

“He shouldn’t be going in either. But he will.” Tim sighs and Jason shrugs.

“That’s his choice.”

“And I’m choosing to go in.” Tim huffs and Jason pushes him back a little and looks him dead in the eye.

“Why? Why do you have to go, Tim?” Jason asks with an eyebrow raised.

Tim opens his mouth to reply, saying he has a lot to get done, but he pauses. He averts his eyes for a moment and really thinks about it. He didn’t have anything to be doing. Rachel had made sure that nothing was booked for him until he was ready to talk about it all and organise it. He was meant to have organised everything when he’d had his meeting with Bruce, but since then everything’s just been a mess and he hasn’t gotten around to talking with Bruce about it again.

“I don’t.” Tim finally answers, looking back up to Jason and giving him a small sideways smile. Jason returns it and reaches up with one hand to cup Tim’s cheek.

“Didn’t think so.” He hums and Tim rolls his eyes a little but he can’t help that it makes him smile a little more. “So, what do you wanna do?”

“I like the idea of a movie. But like, I was thinking of a drive in, not a cinema.”

“You know it’ll probably be a shitty old movie playing, like Jaws or something.” Jason points out and Tim shrugs.

“Jaws isn’t that bad.”

“Yeah but it’s not good either. Did you wanna get dinner while we’re out too?”

“I mean that’s probably a good idea.” Tim hums and Jason shakes his head and pinches his hip lightly.

“Alright Mr. Smart-arse.” Jason chuckles. Tim grins wide and in Jason’s eyes it's adorable. He leans in and still holding Tim’s cheek, tilts the youngers head up a little and kisses him.

Tim’s eyes fall closed and he kisses back, trying not to smile too much and break it. Jason’s hold on his hip tightens as he pulls him in as close as he can against his body, Tim’s body fitting against his own easily. Tim tries not to instinctively roll his hips into Jason’s when the action presses them hard against each other. But he can’t help it, it’s almost like an impulse to grind against a person when he’s pulled against them and kissing them. Jason chuckles low in his throat at the feeling of Tim moving his hips against his own and pointedly pulls Tim harder against him and nibbles on his bottom lip. Naturally and exactly what Jason was expecting, Tim moans because of it. Jason pulls away almost as soon as he gets the noise from Tim and looks at him with a smirk.

“So needy.” Jason almost purrs and Tim grumbles under his breath and puts his hands against Jason’s chest.

“Shut up. It wasn’t like that it’s just… it’s a boy thing.” Tim huffs and Jason laughs more.

“A boy thing.” He mimics and Tim pinches him hard. “Ow.” Jason whines and Tim glares.

“You know you deserved that.”

“You’re a man Timmy, you can’t use the excuse of being a horny teenager anymore.” Jason teases and Tim sucks on the inside of his bottom lip.

“You make me feel like a teenager.” He mumbles low and quietly, but Jason doesn’t miss it. He smirks wider and takes Tim’s hips in both hands again and pulls him hard against his body again.

“Oh yeah? You sure it’s not just excess hormones?”

“If it is it’s still your fault then.” Tim tries not to focus too much on the fact that Jason is without a doubt trying to get him to react to his movements again.

“You don’t know that yet.” Jason points out and Tim lets out a slightly airy breath.

“Yeah well, you fucked me first. Therefore, leading me to skip out on my pill the next day too. So it’s your fault.” Tim concludes. Jason leans in and nips at his bottom lip.

“You just want to blame it on me.”

“If that means it’s yours.” Tim whispers. Jason stops nibbling his lip but doesn’t pull away. He doesn’t really do anything for a moment, then he tilts his head a little more and kisses Tim again.

“You really want it to be mine,” Jason sounds breathless, but it’s just the way he says it like he’s surprised and the fact he’s whispering doesn’t help, “don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Tim’s voice sounds almost the same way as Jason’s.

“You know… we never have to have them tested.” The fact that he says ‘we’ makes Tim’s heart beat unevenly for a second.

“Yes we do.”

“No, I don’t care if they’re biologically his, if you want them to be mine, then they will be.” Jason pulls away enough to look Tim in the eye again to prove to him that he really means it. Tim swallows and bites his lip. That meant a lot to him, hearing Jason say that, knowing that Jason wanted this as badly as he did.

“We do Jay, because if they’re kryptonian… we need to know. Maybe they won’t get powers because Kon’s only half and I’m me, but just in case.” Tim shrugs a shoulder. He’d like to be able to not have to have them tested, he’d be fine with never knowing who’s it was, just pretending that they were Jason’s. But beside the fact they need to know if there’s a chance of them having powers, there was also the idea of the kid needing to know who it’s biological parents are.

“I guess so. But my statement still stands, Tim.”

“I know Jason. Thank you.” Tim smiles softly and Jason kisses the corner of his mouth lightly.

“So where were you thinking of going for dinner?”

“Well last time you took me out for Thai I got pregnant so let’s not do that again.”

“Why not? It’s not like you can get more pregnant Tim, and I know for a fact you’re not gonna knock me up.” Jason smirks with a hum and Tim feels his face heat up a little.

“I’m pretty sure you were thinking that thought when you fucked me.”

“Or maybe I was thinking how good it would be if I could.” Jason mumbles in a low voice, close to a whisper.

Tim’s face really goes red then and he stares at Jason like a startled animal. When he opens his mouth to say something a noise like a small squeak escapes and he’s quick to cover his mouth with his hands, mortified of the sound. Jason laughs, an actual full laugh that has him closing his eyes and his shoulders shaking. Tim swats at his arm hard to try and get him to stop.

“W-were you really?” Tim asks once Jason’s calmed down and he’s able to say something without making more embarrassing sounds.

“Well if I was, I got my wish.” Jason hums and Tim shakes his head.

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“Does it matter?” Jason lets go of Tim and stands up to make his way across the cave.

“Yes!” Tim cries out but Jason just shrugs more and keeps going.

“C’mon, if you want dinner you better move your butt.” And just like that he’s making his way back up to the manor. Tim stands where he is for a moment, one hand covering his mouth again and the other on his stomach. He doesn’t know why, but the thought is almost scary, like if Jason had been thinking that, he’d jinxed Tim and that’s why that seemingly ‘low chance’ wasn’t low. Or maybe the chance wasn’t low in the first place, Jason wasn’t being serious and Tim’s overthinking about something stupid. But he can’t help but think about the fact that Jason actually thought about this, maybe not planning it out like this but Jason had thought of having kids with Tim. If that wasn’t the best feeling Tim’s felt he doesn’t know what is.

\- - -

They end up in an almost empty drive in, in a pretty decent spot with KFC. They set themselves up on the bonnet of the car, wrapped tightly in blankets with a bucket of chicken squeezed between them, keeping their sides warm. Jason attempts to feed some to Tim, but he shakes his head and shoves his hand away and tells him to stop trying to be romantic because he can’t wear that suit well. They got a little lucky with the screenings, having _The Matrix_ being screened at that time. If they’d gone earlier it would’ve been _American Beauty_. For the most part they just enjoy the movie, eating their dinner quietly and happily. But once the chickens gone and Jason’s awkwardly but successfully reached into the open window of the car and dropped the bucket on the driver’s seat he moves back in to cuddle Tim against his body.

It gets to just over half way through the movie when Jason seems to lose interest in it, but not in Tim. His hands start to roam a little and Tim tries to ignore it but it’s hard because Jason’s trying to get his attention and ultimately make him hard. He keeps running his hands down Tim’s front, over his belly and teases at the hem of his jeans before they retreat back to playing with other parts of his body and repeating the notion as he starts kissing and nibbling at the side of his throat too.

“You’re determined, aren’t you?” Tim asks after a good five minutes of Jason groping him. He feels Jason smirk against his neck.

“You were the one getting all excited about being pressed against me earlier.”

“I was not.” Tim tries to defend himself, but it’s not like Jason couldn’t’ve felt that he totally was in that moment.

“C’mon baby, we’ve seen this movie a thousand times by now.” Jason complains, leaning into Tim a little more and kissing him harder. Tim bites back a smile and keeps his eyes on the screen.

“You asked me what I wanted to do and I said watch a movie.” Tim shrugs and Jason hums and turns his body so he’s facing Tim’s more, not quite moving enough to get in the way though, yet.

“But I’m bored and you’re hot.” Jason sighs and Tim can’t help but think about how much of a teenager Jason was being now.

“This is so cliché Jay, at a drive in, you’re unbelievable.” Tim shakes his head, but he can’t really help but make little sounds because Jason has hold of the back of his head and is happily sucking and biting on his neck now.

“You’ve never done it before, there’s something amazing about it.” Jason offers.

“Yes the fear of being thrown into prison for public sex is so arousing.” Tim’s rolling his eyes, but his sarcastic statement is more truthful then he’d like it to be.

“You’re Bruce Wayne’s kid, they can’t keep you in there.” Jason points out and Tim shrugs a little.

“Pretty sure they can.”

“If you’re not gonna let me fuck you then you’re gonna have to at the least let me actually make out with you.” Jason finally pulls away from his neck and looks up at Tim now that he’s moved to box Tim in against the car. Tim notes how he’s keeping his body mostly away from Tim’s own.

“I mean at this point it’s in your hands.” Tim shrugs and Jason’s smirk falls a little.

“No, it isn’t. You say stop and I will.” Jason mumbles and Tim watches him for a good moment.

“I know, I was joking Jason.” Tim reaches up and curls the end of Jason’s hair between his fingers. They watch each other for a bit and Tim realises that Jason isn’t making a move anymore because Tim hasn’t said he can yet. Something about it is scary as much as it is comforting. He’s not used to this sort of thing.

“I’m not.” Jason suddenly says and Tim smiles up at him and pulls him in by the grip on his hair and kissing him softly.

“You’re allowed to kiss me Jason. I don’t have a boyfriend anymore, it’s not cheating.” Tim mumbles and Jason licks his bottom lip a little. Not in a way to be seductive or suggestive, but because his lips are dry and he’s trying to figure out what he wants to say.

“Just because you don’t have a boyfriend doesn’t mean you want to be kissing me.” Jason shrugs and Tim chuckles and twirls Jason’s hair more.

“Well then remind me again why I broke it off with him so that I could have you?”

“That’s not why you did it.” Jason mumbles and Tim can tell that he’s nervous about this, that he’s unsure and Tim wonders if he’s doubting himself.

“It’s one of the reasons.” Tim states truthfully and Jason bites his bottom lip and looks away from Tim for a moment. It was always weird for Tim, watching Jason jump from being teasing and suggestive, wanting to fuck Tim to being shy and scared to even kiss him. But Tim, somewhere in his mind, could find that he understood that.

“Isn’t it way too soon?”

“Jason, there’s a chance that I’m carrying your child, I don’t think there’s a reason for it being ‘too soon’.” Tim points out, raising an eyebrow. Jason sits up suddenly, running his hand through his hair. Tim follows him, sitting up as well and looking him over. He wasn’t expecting Jason to look so down, to look like suddenly he was regretting everything.

“You wanted him so bad, you wanted forever and he tried to destroy you.” Jason sighs and Tim looks down between them. He hesitates for a moment before he reaches out and rests his hands on Jason’s hips. Jason doesn’t respond to the action.

“Jay-”

“What if I do the same to you?” Jason mumbles and Tim frowns up at him. He reaches up to cup Jason’s cheek and Jason covers Tim’s small hand with his own.

“You won’t. I know you won’t.” Tim tries to assure but Jason’s shaking his head.

“I hurt you Tim, I’m the reason you stayed with him.” He closes his eyes and Tim takes the chance to lean into Jason and kiss him again. He’s not surprised that Jason doesn’t kiss him back.

“You never hurt me like he did and… I forgive you Jason, I did years ago. I stayed with him because I was scared. You’re the first person I wanted forever with, I forced myself to love him.” Tim sighs truthfully, slouching back and dropping his hand from Jason’s face. Yes he wanted Kon like that, had for a long time but Jason was always first, he has been from the beginning. Jason looks back up to him and watches him for a moment in silence.

“You’re not the Jason you were then, and I’ll never hate you for the fact you were ever like that.” Tim continues and Jason can’t help that he smiles a little at that.

“You know I… I still have my moments, Tim.”

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t, Jay. Especially with what you’ve been through. No one is perfect and so I don’t expect you to be.” Tim mentions and Jason’s true smile starts to finally come back to him and he can see that Jason’s more relaxed now. He doesn’t blame him for having moments of self-doubt, even the people with the biggest ego, with the most confidence in the world have theirs.

“You’re perfect.” Jason mumbles, low and softly as he leans in a little and pushes Tim back so he’s laying back on the car again. Tim lets out a surprised chuckle and shakes his head.

“I am not perfect, in any way, shape or form.” Tim disagrees and Jason nuzzles his nose against the side of Tim’s.

“I think you’re perfect.” Jason continues to keep his voice low and Tim’s face heats up a little.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why?’” Jason asks, pulling back to watch his face.

“Well, how then? How do you find me perfect?” Tim tries giving him a sceptical look but the fact that he’s blushing takes away from the effect and so he just looks cute. Jason hums in a purring kind of fashion and Tim tries hard not to squirm at the low sound of it.

“What isn’t perfect about you?” Jason says rhetorically, leaning in further again to press his nose alongside Tim’s keeping their lips apart by mere millimeters. “You’re so hot and sexy but you’re also really beautiful and cute. You’re smart but you have your moments of daftness, you taste so good and feel even better. You’re caring, you’re kind but you’ll kick anyone’s ass if you’re pissed off. You don’t take any shit from anyone but you’re so patient with everyone. Shall I continue?”

Tim’s face is completely consumed in his blush now and he shakes his head quickly and tries to collect himself. Jason’s smirking wide now, Tim can tell from the way his eyes sparkle and crinkle at the corners. “That doesn’t make me perfect though.”

“Maybe not to everyone, but to me…” Jason fumbles with his thoughts for a moment to try and decide how he wants to word this. “you’re more than perfect baby. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, more then I could’ve ever dreamt of.”

“Fuck, you’re so cheesy.” Tim chuckles suddenly and Jason smirks and runs his tongue over his lip again, only this time there’s more to it.

“Why do you think it’s all cheesy and cliché Timmy?” Jason hums and gives him an expectant look. Tim reaches up again and tangles his hands in Jason’s hair again.

“Because it works.”

“Exactly.” And with that Jason finally leans back in and kisses Tim again. Each time they end up like this it feels different from the last and Tim realises when Jason denies him the chance to try and speed up the pace and keeps it slow and deep that each time, there’s a little bit more love in it, which is why it feels that way. He realises that Jason was trying to keep himself reserved, keep his feelings to himself all this time and that now he was finally giving in and letting Tim feel and see all that he has to give. And Tim loves it, loves the fact that Jason loves him as much as he loves Jason.

“Can I convince you to let me take this cliché moment to it’s true ending?” Jason asks and Tim shakes his head and chuckles, his fingers still locked in Jason’s hair.

“You seem to forget you got me pregnant last time you fucked me in a car.”

“I possibly got you pregnant.” Jason notes quickly and Tim chuckles more. “And as I said before, I can’t get you more pregnant.”

“If you let me watch what’s left of this movie you can do what you like when we get home.” Tim reasons and Jason nuzzles into Tim’s neck and smiles before he pushes himself up and drops himself back down next to Tim and cuddles the smaller man into his side.

“Sounds like a plan to me Babybird.” Jason kisses Tim’s cheek and turns back to the screen before them and tries to catch on to where they were up to. Tim watches Jason through the corner of his eye for a moment before he finally looks back to the screen as well.

“Can I ask you something Jay?” Tim mumbles and Jason hums, signaling that he’s listening. Tim pauses for a moment and swallows thickly. “Maybe there’s no reason to do this but I don’t think it’s too soon because I don’t feel like I’ve actually been with Kon for the past year and I… I like having a sense of confirmation.”

Jason’s looking at Tim now, full attention on him and with a small smirk like he knows what Tim’s getting at but isn’t going to say anything. Tim feels weird trying to say it, he’s thirty-one, this was pathetic. “C-can we make this official, like… can I say that y’know, you’re my boyfriend and not just… not just…” Tim trails off because he felt so stupid and childish saying this.

Jason chuckles and leans in to kiss Tim again. “Thought you’d never ask.”

And maybe Jason meant it literally and wasn’t just joking around when he said it but it didn’t matter. Because Tim could say that finally after so many years Jason was his and that made him feel like he was unstoppable and untouchable.


	17. Little big brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah ao3 hates me. They told me I couldn't openly promote shit so I linked to Tumblr like they said I could, only apparently I'm not allowed to do that either. I was suspended, they threatened to delete my work, I was suicidal for nearly two weeks because that was the icing on top an already shitty month. YAY.  
> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) it'd really mean a lot to me and would help me out heaps. I've got other fic stuff on there under the fanfic tag. uhhhh okay bye

Despite what Jason had said and the fact that he was dead tired in the morning when they got back, Tim finds himself up early and fairly awake. He sits on the end of his bed for a few long minutes deciding if he wants to put on his work clothes or not. He opts out of it and instead takes Jason’s hoodie from the floor and throws on some neat jeans. Jason won’t miss it for the day and it’s officially the biggest piece of clothing in his room at that current time and right now he just wants to drown in the smell of the other. He glances over his shoulder to Jason’s sleeping form, almost completely naked beside the shirt he threw on before he passed out. Tim believes he intended to put on underwear as well but only got so far before sleep won him over. He smiles to himself and leaves the room, working his hands into the front pocket of the hoodie and making sure none of Jason’s possessions were in it before he accidentally stole them for the day.

No ones in the kitchen when he gets down there, it’s a weird time between when he usually goes off to work and when everyone else starts to drabble downstairs so he has the room to himself for now. He gets himself his coffee like he always does and starts looking around through all his breakfast options. He stares a little blankly into the cupboard, his hand resting on his belly as he thinks about it. He wasn’t hungry, his body isn’t used to eating this early in the day but he knew he had to have something, Jason would have his head if he found out Tim had left the manor without getting some food into him first. He decides on some toast and after battling with his own mind shoves two slices of bread in the toaster instead of one.

The coffee finishes brewing first and he gets himself a cup and sips at it slowly while waiting for the toast. He’s only a little lost in his own head so he hears voices as they near the kitchen and is able to snap out of his trace to look over towards the doorway. Dick comes padding into the room first, still in what Tim can only guess are his pyjamas judging by how they’re sat on his body and the fact that his hair hasn’t been tamed in the slightest. Wally follows in after him, fully clothed and looking more awake then Dick is. They both perk up a little at the sight of Tim.

“Morning.” Tim hums and Dick makes a low sound like he’d rather still be sleeping. Wally’s smile is warm and soft as he moves over toward him. Tim places his cup down on the bench behind him and lets Wally pull him into a quick hug. He can’t remember the last time he actually _saw_ Wally, beside the few quick ‘hello, goodbye’ moments of Tim running out the door. Considering Wally was his brother-in-law-to-be he feels like he should really see him more than he does. In the same sense, he should see his brothers more too.

“Where’d you get that?” Dick asks before Tim can even strike up conversation with Wally. He looks over to him and tilts his head a little in confusion so Dick points to the jumper he’s wearing.

“It’s Jason’s. It was on my floor so I borrowed it.” Tim shrugs and Dick gives him a sideways smile and crosses his arms over his chest.

“It doesn’t even fit him.” Dick complains and Tim’s confusion deepens. Wally takes a step back and really looks at it. It’s nothing special, just a navy hoodie with a logo on the left side of the chest that’s of some eagle or other bird.

“Isn’t it yours?” Wally asks and Dick walks over and pulls at the ties of the hood.

“It was. I had that for almost four years and then one day it disappeared. Jason’s had it for nearly as long as I owned it now.”

“He just took it?” Tim asks with a chuckle and Dick nods.

“And now you’ve taken it.” Wally throws in and Tim smiles. “Passing it down the generations. Damian will wear it one day.”

“Give it four years.” Tim teases and Dick looks the jumper over fully.

“At least he’s kept this one in good shape. When he was Robin I gave him a jacket because I didn’t wear it anymore and he was complaining about needing one. Was shredded within months.”

“Yet somehow that old leather thing still looks almost new.” Tim shakes his head and turns back to the toaster when he hears it finishing.

“For something that he’s worn so much it does not look well worn.” Wally agrees. Tim grabs his coffee and toast and shuffles past them both to the table and sits himself down.

“Jason’s pretty good at looking after most items of clothing. Underwear and hoodies don’t fit in that box.” Tim shrugs as he takes a bite of his toast. Dick smirks to himself as he makes himself his own cup of coffee.

“You’d know.” He hums and Wally smirks as well and looks back over to Tim.

“I’ve probably slept with Jason just as many times as you have, don’t give me that shit Grayson.”

“I can count how many times I slept with him on one hand.” Dick makes a point of saying it in a ‘matter-of-fact’ way, turning his chin up as he sits himself down at the table as well.

Tim shuts his mouth and looks down at the table top. With the way Dick talked about it he’d assumed they’d had more times together. Tim couldn’t say how many times he’d slept with Jason before Kon, not unless he really sat down and thought about each time and even then, he’d probably forget about some. Dick’s looking over to Tim with a shit eating grin, even as he sips at his coffee. Wally still hasn’t sat down, is still leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest and watching Tim. Now that there’s a lapse in the conversation Tim notices the way he’s watching him. Somethings on his mind, he wants to talk about it and Tim can only guess what it is and expect as much. Tim’s eyes shift between the two a little before settling on Dick’s hands wrapped around his mug and the ring on his finger.

They’d been engaged for so long now, almost three years because they haven’t really had the time to sit down and think about a wedding. It’s hard to organise something like that when you’re almost constantly saving a city and sometimes the world. No matter how happy Tim was for them he couldn’t help that he felt sorry for them too. They wanted to start that next step in their lives and they were so close, but all forces were against them. Dick had mentioned briefly they were thinking about having it in July, but nothing was ever said about it again and July came and went.

Tim snaps out of his daze when Dick moves his hand from his cup and makes a hand gesture. He hadn’t realised that he and Wally had started talking again. He goes back to nibbling on his toast and idly listens in to their conversation without the intention of pitching in. Only a few minutes later and it dies down between them and Wally’s looking over to Tim again with that same look of uncertainty.

“Um…” He finally uncrosses his arms and pulls a chair out beside Dick and sits down, facing Tim but his eyes are on the table top. “Dick told me about what happened… what’s going on at the moment.”

Tim nods in understanding. He expected as much. “I’m sorry if you didn’t want me to.” Dick throws in and Tim offers him a soft smile.

“No, I knew you would and was sorta hoping for it. Makes it easier on me y’know?”

“Okay good.” Dick nods to himself like he’s also trying to assure himself that he was in the right with what he’d done. There’s a pause again and Wally starts shaking his head, looking angry.

“Obviously I knew that Kon could be… aggressive, but I never thought he’d ever do something like that to anyone.” Wally grits his teeth. Tim plays with his own fingers and shrugs. “I’m glad you have Jason, I hope the baby is his… you deserve at least that for what you’ve been through.”

Tim doesn’t know what the appropriate response to that should be so he doesn’t say anything and continues to watch Wally stare at the table. After a moment, he decides that something is better than silence. “Thank you.”

“I’m sure I’m not the first one to say this but if he ever shows his face around here again I’ll seriously hurt him.” Tim can’t help but smile at that. He has so many people in his life that care about nothing but his wellbeing and he said nothing to any of them for so long out of fear. Kon should’ve been gone years ago.

“Get in line.” Dick mumbles and Wally finally looks up from the table to meet Tim’s eyes. They offer each other soft smiles.

“I don’t think he will, not with Jason around.” Tim shrugs his shoulder lightly and Wally makes a humming sound, but not one of agreement.

“If he really wants to come back here he won’t let Jason stop him.” He points out. He doesn’t mean to be the negative voice of reason, but it’s not like anything could stop Kon if they weren’t ready for him to come back. Jason’s words set true, they all know he’ll kill Kon if he ignores his warning, but unless he’s ready, Kon will always have the upper hand.

“Jason will get himself killed before he lets anything happen to Tim.” Dick mumbles, lips still pressed to the rim of his cup like he’s just letting it warm him up from the outside. Tim knows that Jason feels that way, that given any situation he’ll put his own life at risk before he lets anyone else do it but hearing Dick say it like that makes his stomach roll and his chest feel tight.

“He say that to you?” Wally asks and Dick shrugs.

“He didn’t have to, I knew he felt that way but yeah, he did.” Dick looks over to Tim and offers him a sideways smile, seeing how shy he looked about it. Because he doesn’t think that his life is worth more than anyone else’s, and definitely not more than Jason’s. Something about knowing that Jason had actually said that to Dick, and probably in a determined manner makes him want to go up to Jason and just kiss the breath out of him and then call him an idiot for ever saying it.

“He thinks he’s worth less than everyone else.” Tim mumbles, swirling his cup slowly and pointlessly.

“He’s always thought that way about himself.”

“He’s wrong.” Tim mumbles and Dick smiles then takes a sip of his coffee.

They fall silent again and Tim slowly finishes off his toast, feeling too full for only having two slices. But he knows he needs to start eating more, the fact that he can so clearly count his ribs even worries him now like it never had before. They were right, he couldn’t live off coffee, he just never realised how badly it was effecting his body until recently. He stares at his empty plate for a moment, feeling bloated and gross but stomachs it enough to finish his coffee. His body will have to get used to it, if he’s going to survive this, if his baby is going to make it. He gets up and moves over to the sink and rinses his cup and even the crumbs from his plate. He can feel Dick and Wally’s eyes on him but he makes a point to not call them out on it. He pulls out his phone and checks the time, it’s getting late at this stage, he needs to get into the office sometime soon if he hopes to get done what he needs to. He pockets his phone again and turns back to Dick and Wally.

“I better get going.”

“You’re going into the office?” Dick asks, raising an eyebrow like he was asking him if he really thought that was a good idea.

“Yeah.”

“Bruce is gonna send you right back home, you know that right?”

“I just need to talk to him about some things, that’s all I’m going in for.” Tim works his hands into the front pocket of his jumper, hunching his shoulders a little as he leans back against the counter.

“It can’t wait until he gets home?” Tim knows what Dick’s doing. He’s trying to keep him here for his own good, he gets that, and he’s pulling a Jason in the way he’s spacing out his questions and trying to make him realise the ways he can go about this without diving straight in and sorting it out right away.

“It’s work related.” Tim shrugs and pushes himself away from the counter again to slowly move over toward them.

“So it’s work then.” Dick throws in and Tim rolls his eyes and gestures to his body.

“Look at what I’m wearing Dick, do you really think I’m going in there to work?” Not that Tim hasn’t had days where he’s gone into the office and only worn a suit shirt because he’d be at his desk all day and also wore comfortable pants and shoes. Rachel always liked those days.

“Who’s to say you don’t have your suit in the car or something so you can get changed into it?” Dick points out as he stands up from his seat.

“You have me all figured out, oh no.” Tim sarcastically mumbles and Dick smirks.

“Jason’s not gonna be happy when he finds out.” Dick offers. Maybe it was a final attempt to get Tim to change his mind and stay back, maybe it wasn’t and he was just stating it like Tim didn’t already know. Maybe it was none of that, but regardless, it wasn’t going to stop Tim from doing this.

“He’ll get over it.” Tim shrugs and Dick chuckles while pulling Tim in for a hug.

“He’ll have a temper tantrum and I’ll have to deal with it.” Dick mumbles as he pulls back from the hug and Wally smirks up at him.

“And Tim will have to put up with the ‘I told you not to do the thing and you did it anyway and I’m annoyed but I still love you’ sex.” They all chuckle at that. But Tim can’t help but nudge his forehead against Dick’s shoulder as he shakes his head because knowing Jason, that was going to happen. Tim wouldn’t mind so long as a lecture didn’t follow.

\- - -

Tim knows that Bruce has a meeting that’s going on until ten, and given that it’s only twenty past eight, he can get some small stuff done in his office for the few hours he has before Bruce will be able to talk to him. He sneaks into his office, closing up the blinds fully and hoping that no one really notices. He sits at his computer and starts tying up the ends of everything he had to do. Nothing hard, just some drabble work he could probably do in his sleep. And Baxon. He finally gets onto that and makes a mental note to tell Damian that he can help him work on it at home for the next few weeks.

The door to his office suddenly opens and Tim freezes up. His mind tells him to duck under the desk and hide like he wasn’t there, like he’d been doing something he really shouldn’t have been. But it was his office, it was his workspace, he was allowed to be there. And to no surprise it’s Rachel that comes into the room, with a small stack of papers clutched to her chest with her clipboard.

“Oh, Tim. I didn’t know you were going to be in today.” She doesn’t seem as surprised as anyone else in the building would have been. She looks a little disappointed actually as she walks over and places the papers down on Tim’s desk. She crosses her arms over her chest and frowns down at him. “Bruce said you weren’t going to be coming in at all for a few weeks.”

“Relax, I’m just finishing up some work while Bruce is having his meeting. I’ll be out of here before lunch time don’t even worry about it.” He waves her off. She rolls her eyes and sits herself on the edge of his desk.

“Bruce isn’t gonna be happy with you.”

“Bruce isn’t going to know that I’m here.” Tim picks up the paper bag on his desk that he’d brought in with him. “You like apple?”

“You know I do.” She gingerly takes the bag from him and has a look inside. “Oh this looks good.”

“Alfred’s apple cinnamon bun, you’ll never want a bakery one again.” Tim smirks as he continues to type. He can see through the corner of his eye as she carefully takes a nibble of the bun, because it’s still early and she’s probably not hungry yet but she can’t resist the sight of it. Rachel was a sucker for fruity pastries. She makes a low sound of bliss and Tim’s smirk widens.

“Stop buying me pastries and get me the recipe for these things.”

“I’ve been trying to get the recipe from Alfred for years.” Tim leans back in his chair and watches as she stares into the bag for a moment before she quickly closes it up like it was urging her on to eat it. He could understand that.

“I’ll come over and pry it from him.” She chuckles and Tim smiles up at her.

“What were you doing in here anyway?”

“You know I use your office when you’re not in, Tim.”

“You do?” Tim raises an eyebrow and Rachel shrugs and leans back more on the desk.

“Yeah it’s quiet down this end of the building and no one tries to come in and disturb me. Plus your chair is super comfy.”

“Family member perks.” Tim grins and she rolls her eyes. “You should feel Bruce’s chair.”

“I have.” She states, turning her chin up and smiling widely like she was proud of herself.

“Oh?”

“He needed me to run and get some papers from his desk one day. I gave myself a minute to try it out. It’s pretty good, very spacy for a chair.”

“It’s kind of amazing that a chair can be that soft.” Tim admits and Rachel nods in agreement.

“It’s like they put a mattress and a chair together, you could totally sleep in that thing.”

“You can sleep in this one, trust me I know.”

“I’ve seen that, I believe it.” Rachel chuckles and Tim stretches.

“What can I say, I’m a hard worker.” Tim smirks as there’s a knock at the door. Rachel hops off the desk but keeps looking over to him as she backs up toward the door.

“No, you work your body _too_ hard.” She gives him a flat look before she opens up the door. She’s not really that surprised that it’s Damian standing there with his hands in his suit pockets, tie not done up properly, like every other day.

“Morning.” He offers and she smiles and offers her soft reply before holding the door open further to let him step inside. Tim’s back to typing away at his computer, but he knows that Damian’s there. “Shouldn’t you be at home?”

“I have to talk to B.”

“He has a phone.” Damian mumbles. “and sitting at your computer isn’t talking to him.”

“Relax,” Tim has to catch himself from calling him ‘Babybat’, even though Damian really was too old to still be called that, the others hadn’t given up on it, “I’m not working hard, just finishing some stuff.”

“You shouldn’t be here, Tim.” Damian’s voice isn’t harsh or demanding. It’s the total opposite. He’s worried, he doesn’t know how to help Tim out, or what to do to make things better but he knows that Tim being home, with Jason most likely is the best thing he can do for himself. Tim looks up to him briefly.

“Just because you’re taller then me doesn’t me you can boss me around. You’re still younger than me.” Tim mumbles, trying to keep a teasing tone to his voice. Damian stands up straighter and turns around to Rachel.

“Sorry, but can you give us a moment.”

She looks a little confused but nods and steps outside, closing the door behind her. Tim sighs and averts his eyes. “Dami-”

“You shouldn’t be out of the house. Look, I don’t care if you think that you’ll be fine, if Kon finds you while no one else is around I don’t even want to think about what he’ll do to you.” Damian isn’t holding up his mask of calm now, he looks, for lack of better words, distressed. Tim watches him, eyes a little wide and unsure of how to react. “Jason can’t keep him away from you if you’re not with him.”

“I can look after myself Damian.” Tim feels a little insulted that Damian is suggesting he needs to chain Jason to him and go everywhere together so Tim’s safe.

“I know you can, but this is Kon, it’d be the same if Clark was the one who was pissed with you.” Damian sighs and steps up to Tim’s desk, leaning over it and turning his head to look away from Tim. “None of us want anything to happen to you, we’re worried sick. Dick had to call Wally over last night because he was stressing out over it, even though he knew that you were with Jason.”

Tim hadn’t really questioned why Wally was there this morning, now that he knows he feels a little bad for closing himself off with Jason all night and not spending time with the others. He reaches into his jeans pocket and pulls out the rock he has with him and places it onto the desk. It catches Damian’s attention.

“I’ll be okay.” Tim mumbles. Just like Bruce and Jason, Tim’s always made sure that he had some kryptonite, especially since he was with Kon. And now he knows that the smart thing to do will be to carry it on his person at all times, just in case. Damian stares at the stone for a long time before he lets out a small sigh and stands back up. Tim swipes it from the table and pockets it again.

“Okay but… if you can avoid being out, especially on your own…”

“I get it Dami.”

“Hell, I’ll even hang out with you if you want.” Damian keeps mumbling, his head bowed and if Tim didn’t know him that well he’d probably think nothing of it. But Damian, as much as he’s grown and changed as a person over the years he didn’t like having to be the source of someone else’s comfort. Not because he hated it, but because he wasn’t good in those sort of situations. Tim smiles while he gets up from his seat and walks around to Damian. They watch each other for a moment before Tim lets out a sigh and rests his hands on his hips.

“I don’t need babysitting, I can look after myself. But… I get it, I’ll make sure I can have someone with me while I’m out, just as an extra precaution.” Tim knows that he doesn’t need it, maybe they all do but he also knows that in moments of panic he can freeze up. He also knows that the more protection he has with him, the slimmer the chance of the baby being in danger. Damian offers Tim a soft smile and nods.

“Good.” Damian pulls Tim in for a hug and Tim nuzzles into his neck because of their height difference. Damian felt like Bruce, he was a lot like him, despite all the parts of Talia that were so obviously showing through him, Tim could easily put Damian’s comfort side by side with Bruce’s.

“I promise I’ll be okay.”

“You better be. I actually like you.” Damian grumbles and Tim chuckles and steps back from their embrace.

“Stop acting like you’re an older brother.” Tim rests his hands on his hips and gives Damian a sly smirk.

“Hey you’re the closest thing I have to a little brother, I can’t treat the others like I treat you.” Damian steals Tim’s smirk as he reaches up to pet Tim’s hair softly. Tim frowns and crosses his arms, making a low grumbling sound because Damian will always, always be taller and _bigger_ then him.

“Dick’s shorter then you too.”

“Yeah but at least he _looks_ older, baby face.” Damian tries to pinch Tim’s cheek but he swats his hand away and points at him in a warning.

“You saying our dear Richard looks old? I’ll tell him you think that of him.” Tim crosses his arms again and his smirk returns to his face.

“Jason’s the one who looks _old_ , especially when he lets his stubble come through.”

Tim tries not to visibly bite his bottom lip. Damian wasn’t wrong per say, but obviously they all looked more mature when they let their facial hair come through, Bruce actually shows his age when he does. But Jason wasn’t as thorough with shaving as the rest of them. He’ll let what Michael has dubbed as his ‘dad hair’ come through and happily grow until it’s too long for his own liking. Which is only just over a week, maybe two weeks if he’s really not feeling it. Tim really has a hard time being in the same room as him when he’s got stubble going on. Tim will never admit that facial hair on _anyone_ can make him want to sit in their lap and kiss the life out of them.

“You’re just jealous that he’s better looking than you.” Tim tries to save face for the fact that he so obviously is blushing slightly. Damian rolls his eyes and drops his hands to his hips, smirking down at Tim.

“I don’t see Jason on the front cover of any magazines.” Damian’s smile couldn’t possibly get any wider without becoming a damn Joker smirk.

It’s not uncommon for Bruce to be plastered all over magazines with titles like ‘sexy’ and ‘dream man’, shit like that they use to lure people in, like a Wayne isn’t enough without the captions. Dick’s had his fair share too, Tim hated it the few times he himself had showed up on a magazine. This year when Damian was put on the cover of _People_ for their annual _Sexiest man alive_ he hadn’t given up a chance to rub it in everyone’s face. Jason hadn’t showed up in anything but newspapers, and then it was only when he died and stuff about Red Hood.

“Jason’s technically dead, and extremely good at avoiding cameras.” Of course there’s been talk of Jason’s return from the dead from day one, but without proper photo evidence there’s nothing for the media to suckle on. People are still questioning if it’s really Jason or not.

“Admit it, Todd isn’t as good looking as you think he is.” Damian chuckles and Tim can’t help that his focus on Damian shifts completely. Because Jason, from day one, has been attractive to Tim, even when he was a bratty teen in green booty shorts. Tim bites his lip before he notices that Damian’s still watching him. He snaps out of his trance and completely looks away from Damian in embarrassment. Stupid booty shorts. Damian laughs and ruffles Tim’s hair again. “Man, you’re in deep.”

“Shut up.” Tim steps away from Damian and hunches in on himself, shoving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, _Jason’s_ hoodie. The fact that he’s drowning in Jason’s smell isn’t helping his case.

“Honestly though, I haven’t really had time to talk to you about everything and well… I’m glad you finally got rid of Kon. I know that it isn’t easy, I know how you feel about him but I never liked him, you can see the Luther in him. Jason’s a better choice, no doubt about that. I hope for both of your sake that the baby’s his.” Damian’s tone of voice changes, the light tone is gone and Tim can tell that he’s trying for sincerity while also being blatant.

“I just wish it didn’t have to be under the circumstances that it is. If I’d known Kon ever thought of laying a finger on you I would’ve killed him straight away. And I wish… I wish you and Jason hadn’t gotten together like you did, the way it happened, like you’ve gotten with him like he’s a rebound. I know it’s not the case, I get that Jason’s always had a bit of your heart from the start… I just don’t want things to end badly between you two.”

Tim’s mind can’t properly comprehend what Damian’s saying and so he’s left standing their speechless. He knows Damian cares, he’s known that he has for a long time now but he never thought that he’d hear stuff like this from the younger. Damian didn’t like wearing his heart on his sleeve, everyday he watched his brothers live that life and saw what pain and misery it could bring. The happiness never seemed to override that in his mind and so he shut himself away. He was just Damian, he never showed how he felt when it involved showing his heart. Tim swallows thickly and tries to get some words out but his mouth feels dry and when his lips part to form words nothing comes out. Damian watches him for a minute before he averts his eyes and lets out a deep sigh.

“You’re both happiest when you’re together. You look better when you’re with him, he’s good for you and you’re good for him. You’re his impulse control, you set him straight. I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve sat down when he’s had one of his moments and he’s just talked about you. I have no doubt in my mind that without you he’d be worse off then what he’s ever been.”

Tim knew that Damian had grown close to Jason. They had similar personalities, they thought the same things, had the same views and values. They got along more then Damian ever did with anyone else, even Dick. It’s no surprise that Jason would’ve gone to Damian when he needed someone to vent to. Roy was as bad as Jason was mentally, so no matter how close they were, Jason couldn’t rely on Roy to be stable enough for it like he could Damian. Naturally, it all made a lot of sense, yet Tim still never thought that he meant so much to Jason.

Before anything else can be said between the two there’s a meek knock at the door and Tim remembers that Damian had shooed Rachel from the room, that they were actually having this talk in Tim’s office while Damian was probably meant to be working. Tim snaps out of his daze and averts his eyes from Damian to look over to the door. But that’s as far as his brain can process. So Damian calls out to let Rachel know that she can come back in.

“Sorry, I just thought you should know that Bruce has finished his meeting.” Rachel pops her head in to say only that before she’s retreating back out the door, closing it behind her again. That’s right, Tim was here for a reason. Damian steps back up to Tim and offers him a soft smile.

“We can talk about this more later if you’d like?”

“Yeah. Sure.” Tim nods a little too fast and Damian works his hands into his pants pockets.

“I know I’m not Jason, but I am here for you Tim, I care about you too. If you ever need me, you know how to find me.”

“Thank you Dami.”

“What’re big brothers for?” He asks, his smirk returning to his face and Tim shakes his head and chuckles.

“Get back to work you lazy ass.” Tim shoves him lightly and it barely even makes him shift.

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“Yeah but I know who is.” Tim smirks, raising an eyebrow at him before he turns and goes back to his computer to save and close up everything he’d been working on. “Oh, by the way, I started work on Baxon.”

“Finally.”

“You can help me out tonight if you want.” Tim offers and Damian shrugs a shoulder.

“Sure thing. I’ll see you later.”

“Try not to have too much fun.” Tim smirks and Damian let’s out a fake laugh before he’s opening up the door and heading off again. Rachel slides back into the room in the same beat and shuffles over to the desk.

“I’m presuming that wasn’t work talk.” Rachel smirks and Tim collects up his things, opening up his paper bag and taking a bite of his cinnamon bun. He shrugs his shoulder and makes a low humming noise.

“Let’s just say our family is a nightmare.” Tim offers and Rachel rolls her eyes.

“I know, I work with a good portion of it.”

“You work with the best part of it.” Tim gloats making Rachel shake her head while moving around the desk to sit herself down in his chair.

“So smug.”

“I’m Bruce Wayne’s kid, what do you expect?”


	18. Accepting change

“You should be at home.” Bruce mumbles, his eyes not even on Tim as he looks over countless papers on his desk. Tim rolls his eyes and shuts the door behind him and struts up to Bruce’s desk. He plops himself down in the chair opposite Bruce and slouches horribly into it.

“Morning to you too. You should be at home too.”

“I’m fine, I’ve had worse.” Bruce keeps mumbling into the papers in front of him, like he would if he was dismissing someone who’s trying to bother him. That makes Tim feel a little irritated.

“So have I.” Tim grumbles and Bruce sighs but finally looks up to him.

“Tim, I understand that you think everything’s going to be okay because Jason scared Kon off but it’s not. He isn’t going to just run away and forget about this.”

“You know this conversation sounds familiar… Oh yeah, Dami just lectured me on this not ten minutes ago.” Tim frowns and Bruce sighs more while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“And for good reason.”

“Look Bruce I’ll be fine. As I said to Damian, I’ve got kryptonite in my pocket, even if he wanted to come after me he couldn’t.” Tim can’t help that he smirks a little to himself. He knows Bruce can’t argue with that. Bruce quickly looks up to him again looking a little surprised, but not in the way Tim thought he would. More like something was wrong, which makes Tim swallow nervously. “What?”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Tim, the baby you’re carrying could be kryptonian.” Bruce mumbles, holding out his hand.

Tim pales. He hadn’t even thought about that. They don’t know if kryptonite will affect the baby, how could he ever know that? God he’s an idiot. He pulls the rock from his pocket and drops it into Bruce’s hand, and like impulse he rests his own hand over his stomach. At this stage, everything should be fine, but there’s no guarantee of anything. Tim bows his head and bites his bottom lip, he felt so stupid for not thinking about that sooner. Bruce puts the rock into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and sighs softly.

“It’s understandable that you didn’t think about it Tim, don’t beat yourself up over this.” Bruce tries to reassure, leaning forward enough to rest his arms on the table.

“If anything happens to this baby because of my own fault… I’ll never forgive myself.” Tim mumbles in a low tone, gripping his hoodie tightly in his fist.

“Everything will be okay Tim.”

“I guess I really will need to make sure that someone is with me while I’m out.” He sighs and draws patterns on Bruce’s desk, still keeping his other hand against his stomach.

“I believe in your ability to look after yourself. But yes, I would advise it. You know Jason for one would be okay with staying with you. He’d probably prefer it, it’d make him feel better.” Bruce straightens up his shoulders and Tim catches him making a hand gesture. Tim stays hunched in on himself as he hears someone open up the office door. He averts his gaze to look through the corner of his eye as someone quickly walks in and drops a reasonable sized stack of papers on Bruce’s desk. He mumbles a quiet ‘sorry’ and hurries back out the room. Tim reaches over and fiddles with the corners of the pages and flips through them.

“Got a lot of work today.” He mumbles like Bruce couldn’t see the mess of paper scattered all around his office.

“You know what it’s like.”

“Some of this is meant to be mine.” Tim notes, recognizing some of the files as his own, and some he’d read over many times before as he worked on it. That made him feel bad. Bruce leans over and collects up the stack of paper and places it beside himself.

“It’s not for you to worry about anymore.”

“But I-”

“Tim.” Bruce grumbles and Tim sighs again and averts his eyes to the top of the desk once more.

“I can work from home. I feel bad for dumping all my shit on you. Please let me help out still.” Tim looks back up to him. “That’s what I wanted to talk about anyway. I won’t push myself and it’ll be easier if I work from home anyway, especially since Jason will probably be constantly nagging me to take unnecessary breaks.”

Tim rolls his eyes and forces himself to sit up straighter. Bruce looks like he wants to outright say no soTim scoots closer to the edge of his seat and tries to give him a soft smile. “You know you need me to help out.”

“No I don’t Tim. I ran this business without you for years.”

“I know and you nearly worked yourself to your grave.”

“Sounds familiar.” Bruce mumbles and Tim shrugs.

“One guess where I get it from.” He raises an eyebrow and Bruce leans back in his chair letting out a heavy sigh.

“Look if you email me the work I can’t do more than what you send me.” Tim shrugs.

“So if I send you nothing…”

“I’ll come into the office and email it myself.” Tim sits back too and crosses his arms over his chest. Forever the stubborn one of the family, more so than the others. It almost makes Bruce wish he never offered a position in the company to Tim. Despite how good he was at his work, he doesn’t want to see it become Tim’s downfall like it was his own.

“Okay fine. You’re only to work four days a week though, and no more than what I send you. And if Jason drags you away from the work it’s for a reason and you will not argue with him on it.”

“You’re not going to force him to monitor me are you?” Tim grumbles and Bruce smirks a little.

“Don’t give me a reason to.”

“He’s gonna be bad enough without you telling him to babysit me.” Tim pouts. Bruce leans forward again and clasps his hands together over his work.

“I know.”

Tim bites his bottom lip and slouches more into the chair. He taps his foot against the leg of the desk and makes low humming noises. Bruce watches him silently as the thoughts in his head tick over. Tim looks nervous or something close to that which makes Bruce want to ask him about it, but he waits for Tim to be ready. It doesn’t take long before he sighs and closes his eyes. “Do you think I’m making the right choice?”

“In what?”

“…with Jason.”

“He makes you happy, doesn’t he?” Bruce asks and Tim bites his lip and nods. “I think you answered your own question.”

“But we can’t always rely on what makes us happy, we can’t always have what we want.”

“I think you of all people deserve to have what makes you happy. And if you don’t think you do, I know you think Jason does, and I know you make him happy.” Bruce offers Tim a soft smile again. Tim couldn’t argue with the fact that he wants Jason to be happy. And if he can be the one to make him happy, that’s enough for Tim.

“I guess I’m just worried with how sudden this all is that he’s not going to be able to handle it or something. Like… maybe he’s keeping his cool on the outside but inside it’s tearing him apart and he’s going to snap and I’ll lose him-” Tim cuts himself off.

The thing that scared him the most wasn’t Kon coming back and ruining everything, it wasn’t even losing the baby that scared him. It was losing Jason. The fact that Jason at any moment could choose to turn his back and leave Tim behind. The thought is enough to make Tim feel sick to the stomach. Bruce for all he’s worth, is not the best at comforting in stressful situations. He’s always been an ‘actions speak louder than words’ kind of person. So there’s no hesitation when he gets himself up from his chair and motions for Tim to do the same. And Tim gladly smothers his face into Bruce’s chest as the man’s arms come around him. Bruce was everything that screamed safe, had been since day one.

“Jason has no reason to go anywhere.”

“He doesn’t need a reason Bruce, remember what he was like with Michael at first? He second guessed everything he did, he didn’t think he’d be able to be the father he’s shown he can be-”

“If I may stop you there.” Bruce mumbles, still holding Tim tightly against his chest. “Jason didn’t have time to even register the fact that he was required to be a father when he’d adopted Michael. It was a last minute decision and mentally, he wasn’t ready for it at the time. But as you just said, he’s shown to be a great father, he’s had Michael for nearly eleven years now. He knows how to handle this now, he knows what’s required of him as a parent.”

“But Michael was _nine_.” Tim pulls away, feeling more stressed out the more he realises how much trouble and problems they could run into with this.

“Tim,” Bruce levels himself with Tim, holding him by the shoulders and looking him in the eye, rubbing his thumbs against Tim’s arms. “Being a parent isn’t something you’re taught. Instinct will be the best thing to rely on, not books and websites. Take it from me, I only got one of my kids killed.”

Tim can’t help but chuckle at that. Maybe Jason’s death shouldn’t be a joke that they all love too much but that’s just who they were. It wasn’t always, the fact they’d lost Jason isn’t something funny, especially since they never would’ve known he’d come back. But it was something that easily broke tension and made the mood seem lighter in a weird way they all know it shouldn’t.

“You’ve got nine months Tim, which isn’t as long as it sounds but it’s still a lot of time to sort this out. Don’t mull this over in your own head and leave it there, talk to Jason. Be completely honest with him and in turn he will be with you.” Bruce stands up again and runs his hands down Tim’s arms. “You’re not alone in this Tim, even if it’s not Jason’s baby, even if it’s not Jason you go to. This isn’t something you have to keep to yourself. You can talk to any one of us, you know this.”

“I know. I just… It’s scary, the whole thing is.” Tim mumbles and without much thought he rests his hand on his belly again. Bruce smiles softly and gives his arms a small squeeze.

“I’d be surprised if you weren’t scared, Tim.”

It’s just the beginning, he has nine of the longest and yet possibly fastest months ahead of him. And after that he has a lifetime of being scared shitless over his kid, of being with Jason, of having this family. This was the start of a new life, he had every reason to be scared. But he was excited about it all too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out


	19. Recon

Crouching down he could see into the building a little better, the small hole in the broken window giving him the line of sight he needed perfectly. Convenient, if he really thought about it, like a movie scene. The windows were blacked out, the whole place kept closed off beside this small hole. He could see them, stood around in a small circle, guns strapped to their belts and thighs, to their backs and held in their hands. Knives and swords strapped to them, probably with some grenades or other small scale explosives at the ready. Tim, donned in his Red Robin suit had been watching them for a good five minutes, having hacked into the signal of their commlinks and was listening in to what they were saying to another party off somewhere else. Sat next to him, listening in with him was Michael, Red Hood.

Most of what the men were saying wasn’t even important, was just small talk, stupid conversation to the point Tim could fall asleep where he was crouched. They have no reason to advance yet, they hadn’t gotten the information they needed. Tim wasn’t a punch first ask later guy, that was Jason’s ally. Red Hood was a lot more intimidating then Red Robin anyway, so it worked better in his favour. Not that people won’t piss their pants in fear if any of the batfam were holding them up by their collar and snarling at them. Tim just couldn’t growl like Jason or Bruce could.

“We’ve been here for hours.” Michael suddenly whispers and Tim rolls his eyes.

“You sound like Jason. We’ve only been here for like seven minutes.”

“This is boring.”

“No one's forcing you to stay.” Tim mentions. He was meant to be on patrol on his own, investigating further into the organisation that he’d discovered almost a month ago, when he was trying to keep himself away from both Jason and Kon. But when he’d been leaving the cave only about an hour ago now, Michael had asked to tag along.

“I know.”

“I’m surprised that you’re here and not Jason honestly.” Tim mumbles with a smirk and Michael leans back into Tim more and lets out a sigh.

“I think he wanted to be. He doesn’t like that you’re out at all.”

“I know he doesn’t. But until it physically hinders me, I’m not going to stop.” Tim mumbles, eyes still watching the men through the broken window. Michael is silent for a moment, long enough that Tim thinks maybe he’s done. But then he’s shifting, turning so that he’s facing Tim even though the other makes no effort to look to him and he pulls his helmet off and sets it down between them.

“You’re at risk every time you leave the house, Dad’s scared shitless that one day you’re not going to come back, that when you do… it’ll just be you. I know that you can handle yourself, Dad knows you can, he doesn’t doubt you, he knows you need to be out here, he gets it, he’s not going to try and stop you. But he’s going to be stressed out and he’s going to be paranoid the whole time and every time. He wants you to be okay, he wants to make sure that you’re going to have this baby, that one day he’ll be able to tell himself all his worrying was for nothing.”

Tim sighs softly and closes his eyes. He knows, he knows exactly that’s how Jason feels, he knows that he’s scared, he’s scared too but he’s not going to let it get to him. He knows what he’s capable of, he knows his limits, he knows he has to watch out for himself. And Jason’s already lectured him on it all, he’s already sat down with Tim and mumbled all his fears and concerns and Tim understood, but he wasn’t going to let fear, his own or someone else’s, drive him.

“I know the risks, I know what I can and shouldn’t do. I’m not going to intentionally throw myself into danger. I only did that once, I learnt my lesson, should’ve learnt it from what happened to Jason. I’m going to be okay Mikey.” Tim mumbles, keeping his focus on the men below them in the building, trying to focus in on listening to them still while he speaks. It’s not an easy task, he’s not that good.

“I don’t doubt that, but if it keeps Dad from losing his mind, I’ll stay by your side when he can’t to make sure that nothing does happen to you.” Michael shrugs a shoulder and sits himself down more comfortably again before he smirks over to Tim. “Doesn’t mean I’m not going to take a powernap while you eavesdrop on some lowlifes.”

“You’re definitely your father's son.” Tim mumbles and he can see the smile that gives Michael from the corner of his eye.

“Imagine if I was biologically his.” Michael chuckles and Tim shakes his head. “The one you’re carrying might be.”

“Don’t remind me.” Tim pretends to sigh dramatically making Michael smirk while leaning back more against the wall, shifting until he’s comfortable.

“Your fault.” Michael hums and Tim can’t help that he smiles widely at that. As much as he liked pinning it on Jason, teasing him about it being his fault it really, truly was his own. But he didn’t regret it a bit anymore.

“I’ll take that fault.”

\- - -

They don’t end up staying out any longer then three hours, because eventually the guys are leaving their ‘hideout’ and Tim’s putting a tracker on their vehicle and they call it a night. But Michael’s got itchy feet so they go after a few small petty criminals and Tim lets him take them down and leave them for the cops to collect. By the time they get home it’s about half past one, which isn’t late at all, Bruce and Damian are probably still out, maybe Dick is too or he’s with Wally. Jason’s in the cave when they get back and Tim sees how he visibly relaxes when they come in. He offers Jason a soft smile as he pulls his mask from his face, the smile quickly turning into a face of disgust at the feeling of the glue peeling off his face. He’s always told himself one day he’ll get used to that. Maybe he should go back to wearing a cowl.

“So how’d it go?” Jason asks, leaning back against a bench casually, like he hadn’t been tense and stressed the whole time they were out. Trying to act as if he’d been calm the whole time. Tim rolls his eyes and cocks his hip when he stands in front of Jason, crossing his arms over his chest, pointing his mask at the older.

“You don’t sound as concerned as I thought you would.” Tim smirks and Jason’s shoulders tense up again as he crosses his arms too to make it look less obvious. But Tim’s already noticed it, he’s an observant person, more so then he needs to be.

“Tim was so reckless out there, he sat around and listened to these guys talk for nearly two hours and only gained like two cue cards worth of information. Then he stood back and watched me beat the shit out of some purse snatchers. He was out of control.” Michael throws in before Jason can even give Tim a response to his statement. Tim shakes his head and looks over to the kid who’s stripping himself of the Red Hood suit, awkwardly wriggling his way out of the stiff bulletproof plating.

“One of those ‘purse snatchers’ had a pretty big knife.” Tim mumbles and Michael grins and proudly shows off a small cut in his forearm. Nothing serious, Damian’s cat could do more harm.

“Yeah but it’s mine now.” Michael pulls it from his utility belt and shows that off as well, handing it over to Jason as he finishes escaping the suit. Jason flips it around between his fingers. It’s a decent length, blade about eleven inches long.

“You know you’re meant to hand this stuff in.” Jason mumbles and Michael hops over to him, pulling on some sweatpants.

“Yeah but look at it, it’s so pretty.” His voice is muffled by him working a hoodie on over his head. Tim shakes his head and holds back a chuckle. Michael runs his finger over the handle like Jason couldn’t see it. “The engravings are so cool and I love the little swirls in the blade. I think I can put it to better use then the cops will.” He smirks triumphantly. Jason gives him a flat look and passes the weapon back to him.

“You should probably see what Gordon says about you snatching knives off thugs.”

“What knives? The ones he’ll never know about?” Michael smirks wider and nudges Jason’s arm before he pushes off the bench and collects up the suit to put it away in its respective case. Jason just shakes his head and watches as he skips back over and past them to head on up to the manor. Tim smirks and continues working off his own suit.

“You know he gets it from you right? You’re the one who got him into knives in the first place.”

“I’m not that bad.” Jason defends and Tim chuckles.

“I didn’t say you were, just was letting you know that you started it.”

Tim can feel Jason’s eyes on him as he finishes stripping out of the Red Robin suit, knowing that he’s probably watching him with his bottom lip between his teeth, not even blinking as his eyes follow his every move. It’s the only reason he drags it out a little longer than need be, why when he’s down to just his underwear he decides to take his socks off before he puts pants on. When he’s clothed again he smirks over to Jason and leans against the case with his suit in it.

“Michael was telling the truth, I didn’t get myself in any trouble tonight, promise.” Jason makes a low humming noise and pushes off the bench to walk over to him, his hands falling to Tim’s waist as he steps right up against his much smaller frame.

“Not even a little?”

“I probably could have gone out without the suit, that’s how much I wasn’t doing tonight.” Tim shrugs and Jason makes a small snorting noise. Tim kind of loves it when he does that.

“How do you sit around for hours just listening?” Jason never liked recon missions. Tim was always the one to join Bruce on those and to conduct his own. He had the patience, that’s what it really came down to.

“I listen to you blurt shit all day, I’ve had practice.” Tim teases and Jason glares down at him flatly before he looks away, trying to bite back a smile at the smartass he has pinned against him.

“You’re such a shithead.” Jason still isn’t looking at him, trying not to chuckle at the remark. Tim bites his bottom lip before he pushes himself up on his toes to peck the corner of Jason’s mouth.

“Do you have any idea who my brothers are? What do you expect?” Tim chuckles and Jason shakes his head but finally turns back to Tim. He leans down into Tim’s frame and nips at his neck at the same time he starts digging his fingers into Tim’s sides. Tim tries to hold back his squeak as his body tries to escape Jason’s ministrations, wriggling helplessly as he’s tickled by the older man.

“Jay don’t!” Tim tries pushing at Jason’s chest, but he hasn’t got the strength he needs to get Jason away from him, not when Jason weighs nearly twice as much as him and his muscles are spasming from the attack, making his arms and legs weak and twitch violently. “Jay seriously, I have to pee.”

“Like that’s gonna work.” Jason rolls his eyes and Tim makes a small noise and keeps squirming.

“I’m being serious.” Tim whines, a little embarrassed by the fact that he knows damn well he’ll piss his pants if Jason keeps tickling him. Jason pulls back enough to look him in the eye until he can tell that Tim’s telling the truth by the look he has. They all learnt how to gauge if someone’s lying when they were Robin, it was something Bruce always made sure everyone knew how to do. Being able to tell if someone is lying by a simple look can save a lot of time and effort. Jason sighs dramatically and stops digging his fingers into Tim’s hips and instead runs his hands slowly up and down his sides.

“You’re lucky this time, Drake.” He mumbles before he lets go of him and pats his butt lightly as a way of telling him that he’s free to escape. Tim takes his chance and slides out of Jason’s range to jog up the steps to the manor, chuckling to himself, knowing that Jason will follow him up soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out


	20. Cold turkey

Despite the fact that it’s been a month now, Tim’s still a little surprised when he wakes up with Jason curled up in front of him and not Kon. Part of him missed Kon, the part that was always telling him that one day they’d be better and everything would be okay between them. It was the part that still loved him, the part that probably always will. And that part of him causes his heart to stutter unevenly when he opens his eyes and sees a messy white fringe only inches away from his face. He rolls his eyes at himself and lets out a soft sigh. Jason’s head is tilted down a little so he can’t see his face properly, but Tim still settles back into bed and watches him. There’s always something so comforting watching someone sleep peacefully.

Tim’s favourite thing about getting to see Jason still asleep is how soft he looks. No one can deny that Jason has rough features, that he’s got a strong jaw and slightly hard eyes. But when he’s asleep it’s like everything’s so relaxed that his defining features aren’t there anymore. And to Tim, he never looks more beautiful then when he’s asleep or freshly woken up. His hair also seems to get small curls in it when he sleeps, curls that he combs out with his fingers throughout the day so they’re never seen.

Tim smiles to himself and reaches up to lightly stroke Jason’s cheek. He runs the back of his hand down his face before he strokes his thumb back and forth over his cheekbone. Jason doesn’t even flinch, his breathing doesn’t change at all and Tim stops holding his breath out of fear of waking him up. Jason can be a heavy sleeper but only once he’s really out but the longer he sleeps the easier it is to wake him. The thing that was always easiest to get him awake was usually physical contact, PTSD and all that. Most of them jolted awake instantly when they were touched in their sleep. So the fact that Jason doesn’t even show signs of movement means that he really must be at peace in that moment. That was comforting for Tim to know.

He takes another risk at waking Jason and leans in to kiss the tip of his nose. Still Jason doesn’t shift. Tim settles back into his bed more and lets his eyes fall closed. There’s no hope in him falling back asleep and he knows that, but he doesn’t have to be anywhere, he doesn’t need to do anything so he can stay here with Jason. He keeps his hand resting lightly on Jason’s cheek, occasionally rubbing his thumb across his smooth skin. He stays there for only a few minutes before his eyes open again and he sighs. He doesn’t need to go, but he can’t stay, he’s not used to sleeping in, to staying in bed too long and so his body is trying to push him out of bed. It doesn’t help that his bladder is trying to urge him up now too.

He goes to shift back away from Jason so he can crawl out of bed, but he doesn’t get anywhere. He hadn’t realised that Jason’s hand was resting on his hip at all until he tries to shift and suddenly Jason’s gripping him and like that Jason’s wide awake. The whole ‘touch sensitive’ thing extends a little further. Because even in Jason’s subconscious he knew he had hold of Tim, that he was keeping Tim safe by having him in his grip, even if it wasn’t much. And so instantly upon Tim moving Jason’s mind was telling him that he wasn’t safe, that something was wrong, that Tim was in danger and it makes his mind wake up so fast that when he looks up to Tim he looks like he’s been awake for hours. Tim tries to offer him a smile but he feels a little bad for waking him up. He reaches up and lightly runs his hand through Jason’s hair.

“It’s okay, just gotta use the bathroom.” He feels Jason squeeze his hip and sees him swallow like his throat had clogged up with something akin fear. But he let’s go and wordlessly lays back into Tim’s bed, though Tim can see that he’s still tense.

Tim quickly gets up and tries to take as little time as possible in the toilet so he can get back to Jason and reassure him more. His still half asleep mind probably can’t register what’s going on properly making him tense until he wakes up properly. When Tim gets back into his room Jason’s rolled onto his back, his tired eyes staring unfocused at the ceiling. He turns his head to look over at Tim when he notices he’s come back in and watches him as he comes back over to the bed.

“Sorry about waking you.” Tim mumbles, tucking his feet underneath him as he sits himself down right next to Jason’s side. Jason’s hand instantly comes to rest on his thigh, like he needs to make sure he has some sort of hold on him just in case. Jason was only like this when he was tired, he didn’t usually feel the need for so much contact otherwise.

“S’okay, you alright?” Jason’s words are still a little heavy and slurred from sleep. Tim holds back a giggle because he knows Jason will say something about it. He nods and puts his own hand over Jason’s so he can rub his thumb over his knuckles.

“I’m fine.”

Jason’s face looks soft again, his tiredness showing through now that he’s not freaking out over Tim. It’s kind of amazing how awake he can look when his mind is telling him that something’s wrong and how he could probably drop back dead asleep in seconds once he realises that everything’s okay. Tim reaches up and pushes the strands of Jason’s hair from his face, though they’re not long enough for him to tuck them back and so they fall right back into place. Jason smiles softly at the attempt and rolls over to nuzzle into the pillow he has tucked under his chin, his free hand gripping onto it tightly.

“You need to stop getting up so early.” Jason mumbles, directly into the pillow so Tim barely catches what he says.

“My body clocks been set since I was a kid.” Tim points out and Jason rolls his eyes, nuzzling further into the pillow.

“You can change that y’know?”

“Sorry to disappoint you but I’m not going to ever sleep in till midday.”

“At least your body will be used to getting up early so you’ll have no problem getting up and dealing with a crying baby.” Jason lifts his head enough to smirk up at Tim.

“Hey, if you’re going to be in on this, you’ll be getting up too.” Tim grumbles and Jason’s smirk morphs into a smile as he moves his hand from Tim’s thigh to prop himself up on his arms.

“Don’t worry baby, I plan to.” And if Jason’s smile could get anymore charming Tim would have to break his face. No one had the right to look so good just because they smiled. Tim returns the smile and leans in enough to kiss Jason. It’s slow and soft, with Jason reaching up to cup Tim’s cheek and keep him there a little longer. But Jason pulls back when he hears a low grumble, watching as Tim averts his eyes like he’d hoped Jason hadn’t heard that.

“Was that… I’m not hearing things, right?” Jason asks, smirking wide again and Tim sits up and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Shut up.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard your stomach rumble before.”

“Yeah well usually I’ve got coffee in my system by this time.”

“Nuh uh, don’t act like you’re not hungry.” Jason’s face looks soft again, except this time it was different. Tim didn’t know how to describe it or why Jason would be looking at him like that. It was a little weird, but Tim doesn’t question it.

“Well… someone’s stopping me from having breakfast.” Tim averts his gaze and Jason chuckles, pulling himself closer to Tim so that he can rest his chin on Tim’s thigh. He’s looking up at him but Tim keeps his eyes on anything else, embarrassed in the way Jason was treating this.

“You have filled out a little, it’s good to see you putting on some weight. And don’t you dare try and say that it’s because you’re pregnant because that is not what this is.” Jason shifts closer and nuzzles his nose against Tim’s belly. Tim doesn’t want to encourage Jason but he can’t help that he drops his hand down to pet his hair lightly. He can practically feel Jason’s smile against his stomach.

“I know it’s not… I’ve been trying to eat more.”

“Thank you.” Jason whispers and Tim frowns while looking down to him. He still has his face pressed into Tim’s belly so Tim isn’t sure if that was directed to him or not. He swallows and tangles his fingers into Jason’s hair.

“What’re you saying thank you for?”

“For trying, for helping yourself. You knew it was bad. I’m glad you’re finally realising that you had to do something about it.” Jason tilts his head up so he’s looking at Tim again. Tim shrugs his shoulder and gives Jason a small smile.

“Kind of your fault. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant I might not have. So you should be thanking yourself.”

“I didn’t do nothing, just gave you a little nudge.” Jason shifts and pushes himself up so that he’s sitting as well, stretching his arms over his head and letting out a deep yawn. Tim unconsciously scans his eyes down Jason’s torso, taking in all his muscle. Jason doesn’t miss the look and smirks, rolling his shoulders back before he flexes his arms. Tim catches him doing it and his eyes snap back up to Jason’s face. “Like what you see?”

Tim just glares at him and turns away so he can climb out of bed. Jason leans back to rest on his hands and watches Tim pad across his room and pick up a pair of pants to put on. “You know you can go back to sleep if you want.”

“I’m up now, and besides, I should probably get myself used to waking up earlier.” Jason stretches again before he hops out of bed too. Tim looks over to him and offers his clothes to him, but he waves them off. “It’s not like almost everyone in this house hasn’t seen me naked at some point by this stage.”

“Just because you’re a nudist doesn’t mean everyone wants to see it.”

“I’m wearing boxers.” Jason defends. No, they weren’t boxers, they were goddamn tight boxer briefs that Jason should not wear on their own outside the bedroom. But more times than not Jason walked around the manor in nothing but his underwear because that’s just how he’d lived when he was staying with Roy. Old habits die hard, especially when no effort is made to change them. Tim decides silence is better then a reply that’ll just make Jason smirk and tower over him with a suggestive look. He drops Jason’s clothes back on the floor and turns to head out of the room, but not before Jason swoops in to grab hold of his hand and lock their fingers together and go with him. Tim smiles to himself at the feeling of Jason’s hand being in his own, the feeling that was slowly becoming more and more familiar.

It’s a Saturday, so for once everyone is in the kitchen when they get down there, even Bruce. Alfred’s trying to keep him and Dick away from the stove as he cooks up various breakfast foods. Dick’s trying a little harder to help out and Tim bites back a chuckle as he watches Alfred start swatting at him with the hot spatula. It was Alfred’s kitchen before it was anyone else’s, and when he was cooking, no one was to get in the way. The fact that everyone was still bustling around in the kitchen would mean that there would be coffee already made up, which is always a good thing. The bitter-sweet smell of his literal life essence makes him hum to himself.

But it’s short-lived when his gut suddenly churns, a wave of nausea hitting him unexpectedly. It takes a moment for his mind to actually register the fact that he’s going to be sick and he’s thankful that Jason doesn’t try and keep hold of him when he pulls away and makes a run for the bathroom. He’s also thankful for whoever left the damned toilet seat up otherwise he might not have made it. Luckily he hasn’t eaten yet today so there’s not really much in his stomach for him to throw up, but it sucks all the same.

He should’ve expected Jason to follow after him, but he’s still a little surprised when he feels his hand come to rest on his back. If he’s honest with himself, he probably wouldn’t’ve done the same for Jason. But then again, he does have a sympathetic gag reflex and would have to fight Jason for the toilet. Jason seems unfazed, and bores a sad, soft smile when Tim finally stops hurling up his guts and sits back, groaning pathetically.

“What the fuck.” Tim mumbles to himself and Jason holds back from making a useless sound of pity.

“You okay?”

“No.” Tim grumbles as he leans forward, resting his hands on his knees as he screws his eyes shut and tries to ignore the taste of bile in his throat. “Felt fine a minute ago.”

“Yeah well, morning sickness doesn’t have to have a warning.” Jason shrugs his shoulder and Tim resists the urge to lean forward and rest his head on the edge of the toilet bowl. Because no matter how clean Alfred kept this place, that was still a hard no.

“I think it was the coffee.” Tim sighs and Jason raises an eyebrow. “Smells can trigger morning sickness, due to heightened senses of smell during the first trimester.” Tim mumbles lowly, like he thought Jason didn’t really care to know.

“You been looking into this sort of thing?”

“Already knew about it, year twelve bio.” Tim shrugs and Jason smirks, pushing Tim’s hair back from his face so he can lean in and kiss his forehead.

“Nerd.” Jason teases and Tim elbows him, groaning to himself as he sits back on his hunches and takes a deep breath. He felt better but he knew not to trust the feeling of safety when you’ve been sick. That false sense of security that could be ripped away in seconds with another wave of nausea.

“Just because you’re a drop out.”

“Yeah the best kind, I dropped out so hard I dropped out of life.” Jason sticks his tongue out and Tim rolls his eyes and lightly slaps at Jason’s face, not even hard enough to make a noise. Jason chuckles and turns his head into Tim’s hand trying to bite at his fingers but Tim’s able to pull his hand away fast enough.

“You’re not funny.” Tim grumbles, getting himself off of the floor and avoiding looking into the bowl, flushes the toilet. The smell will stay with him for most of the day, no matter what he does.

“You smiled. I saw it.” Jason makes a groaning noise as he gets himself back to his feet and Tim shakes his head.

“You’re not that old, until Dick starts sounding like he’s falling apart you’re not allowed to complain.”

“I’m a whiney bitch by nature and you know it.” Jason states proudly, putting his hands on his hips and pushing out his chest as he stands up straighter. Maybe if he wasn’t just in his damned underwear Tim would be able to roll his eyes at him, but instead he just stares a little blankly. Stupid Jason, stupid abs, stupid hormones.

“Your only competition is Damian and he’s never complained as much as you.”

“Gotta be number one at something, and seeing as I’m the worst Robin in this house, I’ll take any title I can get.”

“You can’t say you’re the worst when you died on the job, that makes you the most dedicated, which gives you first place.” Tim points out. He’s pretty sure that argument would be shot down by the others, but he’s okay with that.

“Dami’s still Robin, he has time to do better.”

“Don’t wish that on him.” Tim pokes Jason’s chest before he sucks in a breath and stands up straighter. He moves over to the bathroom cabinet and gets out a bottle of mouthwash. He doesn’t usually use this stuff because he doesn’t feel he needs too, but there’s no way he’s going to have the taste of puke in his mouth while he eats. He gargles it a little longer then he needs to, hearing Jason scoff at him when he makes himself gag on it. He flips Jason off as he spits it out and then gargles some water to wash that down too.

Take two.

He plods out of the bathroom and tries not to think about it too much as he heads back to the kitchen. Despite his stomach still feeling weird he was definitely still hungry. He bypasses everything and goes straight for the drug cupboard. He gets himself the anti-nausea tablets, which are sadly at the back making him strain to reach, but he manages and swallows one dry.

“You all good?” Dick asks, leaning against the counter next to him. Tim gives him a thumbs up and gets himself a cup of water and downs it.

“The coffee smell got to me.”

“Aw poor thing.” Dick teases, reaching up to ruffle Tim’s hair. Tim swats his hand away and gives him a warning look.

“If I can’t have coffee, you know that means I’m gonna be more irritable.”

“Let’s hope that your body doesn’t go into shock.” Dick chuckles and Tim sighs and slouches against the counter as well.

“Maybe it’ll be good for it.” Jason hums as he steps up to them, he’s holding two plates and he holds one out to Tim. “You okay to eat?”

“Hopefully, I’m starving.” Tim takes the plate which consists of bacon, eggs and some sausage and offers Jason a soft smile. “Thanks.”

“I heard that correctly, right? He said he was starving, didn’t he?” Dick asks and Tim flips him off because he’s already got food in his mouth. He pushes off the counter and walks over to the table to pull out a chair with his foot and sit himself down.

“His stomach rumbled earlier.” Jason notes and Tim rolls his eyes to himself and acts like he isn’t listening. He gets it, he knows that they’re all actually happy about the fact that he’s looking after himself but they don’t have to make such a big deal about it.

“You sure?”

“I was just as surprised as you.”

“You guys suck.” Tim grumbles to himself but he notices Michael chuckling to himself and looks up to him.

“You’re just realising that?” Michael smirks up at Jason when he receives a flat look. Jason shakes his head lightly, taking a seat next to Tim.

“I think I win in the sucking department too.” Jason practically purrs and Tim, if he wasn’t as hungry as he was would probably throw some food at him for that remark. Instead he chooses to ignore it and keeps his focus on his breakfast.

“You’re a pig.” Dick complains and Jason flashes him a toothy grin.

“The sexiest pig you’ve seen.”

“If you don’t stop I might have to throw something at you.” Damian grumbles and Dick nods in his direction like he’s agreeing with him.

“Yeah, new kitchen rule, clothes must be worn at the table.” Dick says it accusingly, like he hasn’t had early morning’s where he’s been on too little hours sleep and came into the kitchen in just underwear and sat down with a pot of coffee in front of him. Yes, a pot, not a cup, he could be as bad as Tim some days.

“You’re just jealous.” Jason’s smirk isn’t going to be leaving his face any time soon, especially with everyone feeding him more stuff to be smug about. Tim just smiles to himself and keeps eating, letting the conversation around him become background noise to the thoughts in his head.

A few minutes later he’s finished the food on his plate and is eyeing Dick’s coffee with slight envy. He could probably drink some, but he doesn’t want the risk of the smell being directly under his nose making him sick and so he ignores his own stubbornness and sips at his water. He doesn’t notice that he kind of zones out, watching Damian as he continues eating. But he snaps out of it when he feels Jason lean into his side and kiss his shoulder lightly.

“Still hungry?” He asks, just like he knows somehow. Tim hated that he seemed to have this weird sense for knowing what he was thinking almost all the time. He really needed Jason to get out of his head.

He bites his lip and looks down to his empty plate, only a little embarrassed. He didn’t usually eat this much, but he really was still hungry and so he slowly nods. Jason chuckles and kisses his cheek before he picks up Tim’s plate as well as his own then heads back over to the stove. Tim doesn’t know if he gets himself some more food because he’s hungry too or to make Tim feel better about still being hungry, but the fact that Jason’s still eating does make him feel a little better. He’s also happy no one comments on him having more to eat.

“Thanks.” Tim mumbles a little shyly and Jason offers him a soft smile.

“Seriously babe, you don’t have to thank me. Someone’s just being a guts.” Jason pokes Tim’s belly lightly and Tim shakes his head, holding back a chuckle.

“To be fair, I did throw up.” Tim shrugs and that soft smile is back on Jason’s face, the one he always seems to give Tim right before he tells him he loves him. He leans in and kisses Tim softly.

“Yeah, someone’s also being a meanie to their dad.”

“God, you’re such a dork.” Tim turns his head away from Jason, resting his chin in his palm as he starts playing with the food on his plate.

“But I’m your dork.”

And Tim couldn’t bite back his smile even if he tried because that was possibly the best thing he could hear Jason say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out


	21. And, action

Tim found himself sat outside another building that night, with Michael by his side again as they listened in to the conversation that was going on a floor below them. Michael was idly throwing a batarang around, which was a little distracting but Tim didn’t tell him to stop. He was taking in everything that he could because he knew that this couldn’t go on any longer, tonight they had to take these guys down then go and rat out the rest of the group before they could put anything too major into play. They weren’t that much of a threat just yet, but Tim didn’t want to risk the chance of them becoming a problem. Maybe if Bruce was there he’d tell Tim not to worry about them yet, to just keep an ear out and wait until things got worse. But Tim knew he’d be sidelined if they did, and so he was going to deal with it now, before it became never.

He had enough evidence to have these guys locked away for life, but he was still only getting bits and pieces as to who else was in on their little ruse. He never liked having to use force to get the information he needed, but that was most definitely the Batman way, and he was running out of options and time. The henchmen, or whatever they are start getting off topic again, start talking about some other shit that has nothing to do with the information Tim needs. He sighs to himself and watches Michael through the corner of his eye but keeps his focus on what they’re saying. The conversation keeps jumping around topics until they start grumbling about interference and Michael perks up when they mention something about some ‘Virus’. Tim frowns and cocks his head a little.

“What is it?”

“Nothing… nothing.” Michael turns away again but he’s not throwing his batarang around anymore and instead is silently listening in, more intently now. Tim narrows his eyes, not that Michael could see it from under the lenses of his mask and listens in more too.

“Every time you think you’ve seen ‘em all, another one comes out of the damned shadows.” One of the guys mumbles and Tim realises this ‘Virus’ is another hero, or antihero, maybe even a villain, and the name is familiar to Michael. Tim’s never heard it before and he makes a mental note to look into it when he can.

“They get freakier too.” Another one laughs and they all laugh along with him. Michael shakes his head and goes back to tossing the batarang around. Tim also makes a mental note to ask Michael about it later. They stay like that for nearly ten minutes before Tim sighs and stands up, cracking his back as he does and then looks down to Michael with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You ready for some interrogation?”

“God, finally.” Michael jumps up and gives Tim a wide smirk before he shoves his helmet onto his head.

“You wait here, I’m gonna go from the west.” Tim flicks his thumb in the direction like it really mattered at all.

“We got a signal?” Michael asks before he can take off and Tim smirks and nudges his shoulder lightly.

“You’ll know when.”

Tim gets himself in position at another window, looking around the building to assess the situation. Three main guys, which was less than last night, but still just as many guards standing around. About fifteen that Tim could see. This wasn’t going to be difficult, but it wasn’t going to be a cake walk either. Two against twenty? The odds were still with them. Tim works open the panel and silently drops down into the warehouse, crouching down behind some storage crates. He watches Michael drop down onto the rafters, keeping himself out of the line of sight as he waits for Tim to make his next move. They just had to make sure that the guards didn’t distract them enough for the three men to get away. Tim takes a stance, holds his position as he watches one of the guards with a hard stare, then he moves.

It’s like flicking a switch, as soon as one guard catches sight of him, gunshots erupt from all angles. Tim keeps his head down and his eyes focused, moving fast and direct, doesn’t stop for a moment to take in his options, first is last unless you want to get shot. He takes down the guard easily, a swift elbow to the spine before he cracks the heel of his boot against the guys jaw and if it wasn’t enough to knock him out, his head bouncing off the concrete floor is. He keeps his direction straight and ducks behind more crates, giving himself only a second to relocate another target before he moves again.

Michael moves a little more recklessly, he uses his strength over strategy, like Jason always did. He takes out two guards at once and is quick to throw himself back toward more, managing to dodge their rapid fire like it was a gift. And Michael isn’t as forgiving, if the guy gives him a hard time he won’t hesitate to thrust a blade into one of their limbs and leave them screaming out in pain before he knocks them out.

The three henchmen, obviously realising they’re in trouble try to make a break for it, running for the door as they shoot wildly behind them. Tim catches sight of them as he catches a guard in a sleep hold.

“Can you handle the rest of them?” Tim growls into his comm, keeping the guy in his arms as still as possible as his struggling is starts to slow. They’ve already taken out about seven guards, but Michael’s moving about the other’s, keeping Tim’s ass covered. Tim can practically hear Michael’s smirk in his tone.

“You know I can.”

Tim doesn’t need to respond, he just throws the guard in his arms to the side, in a way that his head smacks into a rail as he goes down. Just as a way to make sure he stayed out. He moves quickly and swiftly, running after the men while also making sure that any bullets, stray or not from the guards don’t hit him. The henchmen are trying to desperately clamber into the back of their vehicle, but they’re in such a rush that their movements are clumsy and they’re taking up too much energy. It’s amusing and also exactly what Tim needs to be able to get them. He moves in fast and grabs hold of the one at the back, pulling him away from the vehicle in the same motion that he gets his hands on the second guy. He throws them into each other, having to move quickly to avoid more bullets.

He’s better at moving then they give him credit for and he’s able to quickly take the two out, restraining them against a post easily. But in the act of making sure they were bound and not getting anywhere the other henchmen has taken off, which isn’t surprising, but that doesn’t mean that Tim’s going to just give up.

“Don’t go anywhere.” He mumbles to the others who look dazed from having their weapons snatched from them in the same beat that they came crashing down against their heads. Tim gets his grappling hook out and takes off after the vehicle. “Hood?”

“Almost done here, shoot.”

“I’ve left two of them outside for you, they shouldn’t be getting out but just watch them for me. In pursuit of the final guy now.”

“You sure you don’t want me to take care of him?” Michael asks a little cautiously. Tim rolls his eyes and keeps himself moving on after his target.

“I can handle this.”

“I know you can, I’m just… y’know. Dad won’t be happy…” He mumbles the last bit like he felt ashamed of himself for feeling like he has to say it.

“He’ll get over it.” Tim mumbles and scales a building with his hook as more of an aid then anything else. He can cover more ground from the rooftops.

Luckily for him, the guy has taken the car he’d planted the tracker on and so he doesn’t even need to keep an eye on it to follow after it. Not that it wouldn’t be hard to follow the sound of screeching tires and things being mowed down by the vehicle. He uses the process of elimination to figure out the most likely course that he’ll take to try and shake Tim while also getting out of here as fast as possible. He isn’t always one hundred percent right of course, but he’s not usually too far off either. He takes a shortcut and hopes to cut the guy off two blocks down. He only has a short window, despite how much faster he can move without having to weave streets, he can’t outrun a speeding car no matter how good he is.

He takes his chance and leaps off the side of the building into the street below. Only a little early, but that’s better then late. He lands only a few meters in front of the car and although he’s directly put himself in the guys way, it either doesn’t register that Tim’s the one after him or he instinctively panics and swerves. Tim moves, straight for the van as it comes at him sideways, jumps onto the roof and hangs on for dear life. More gunshots echo around him and he dismisses them like he would any other day and moves to the back of the van. He destroys the lock on the doors with a batarang and throws them open, swinging himself into the back before the vans even finished braking. There’s more guys in the back then Tim had expected, but it doesn’t throw him off too much and he’s pretty quick in making sure they’re disarmed. Mostly. A bullet whizzes past him, clipping his shoulder enough to make him stumble but not enough to throw off his attack.

He gets two guards out easily, knocking them out by bashing their heads together then using them as human shields as he throws them back in against the one remaining guard and the main henchman he was after. They don’t prove to be much trouble either and Tim’s able to knock out the guard and tie up the henchman. He stands over him with a smirk as he squirms in his restraints like he had any chance at escape. Tim grabs him by the collar of his shirt and pulls him up with him and goes to drag him out of the van. In the same beat that he turns around more gunshots go off and in instinct Tim moves out of the way. The driver, god sometimes he really was the daftest person in the world.

He throws himself directly at the shooter and tackles him to the ground, but the guy isn’t as easily deterred as his comrades and rolls with the movement and manages to throw Tim off. It’s not that impressive considering it’s a basic move, but still Tim wasn’t expecting this guy to be the one dude to not show him a hard time. He doesn’t give himself time to think about it, nor is he really in the mood for any form of banter and so he just jumps back in. He dodges the fist thrown his way easily and delivers his own, a nice upper cut that leaves a satisfying cracking noise echoing in the air around them. In the same movement Tim twists and delivers a kick straight into the guys chest, sending him down. Never mind about that hard time thing, he was just as easy as the others. He follows through with another punch to the guys temple and he’s out like a light, his mouth full of his own blood as he lies on the sidewalk.

“I think you should invest in better bodyguards before you think about bombing half of Gotham.” Tim quips, resting his hands on his hips as he turns to look back into the van, smirking to himself. It’s quickly wiped off his face when he sees that the henchman is awkwardly sprawled out on the floor of the van, his eyes still open like his mouth, bullet wounds littering his body. “Ones with better aim too.” Tim sighs to himself.

“Hood?”

“Hey Red, just keeping these noobs company, how’d it go?”

“Great, until about three minutes ago. Dude got shot by his own guard.” Tim kicks at the curb as he sends out a message to Gordon for clean-up.

“What a way to go.” Michael hums and Tim sighs to himself again.

“You can start the interrogation if you want, I’ll be there in five.”

“Copy that.”

Tim reaches up and grabs hold of the gunshot wound in his shoulder. It was nothing compared to what he’s coped in the past, but he can already hear the lecture he knows he’s going to get from Jason the moment he finds out about it. Another day another wound, this was just the life they lived.

\- - -

When Tim gets back to the original location Michael isn’t outside with the two henchmen, so Tim can only assume he’s dragged them back inside for this, which was probably smart. He slips into the still open door and takes a look around. All the guards are tied to different columns around the warehouse, most of them still unconscious. In the middle of the room, like a cliché movie scene Michael’s stood towering over the henchmen asking them questions. He’s not even using a gruff tone, he just stands with his shoulders squared, his arms crossed with a knife in his hand like he’ll drive it into them if they don’t answer him. He won’t, not unless he really has to and again it’ll be after giving them a broken nose doesn’t work. But he’s not really trying and yet these guys are fumbling over each others words to get the information to him first like it was a race.

Tim didn’t want to make it sound like Michael wasn’t threatening or intimidating, because he could be, he learnt from the best but anyone could wear the Hood and be able to scare off most thugs. Red Hood had a reputation, and everyone knew that being on the Hood’s radar wasn’t something you ever wanted. Michael played closer to Bruce’s rules then Jason ever would, but even without being Jason’s kid, he had a violent streak to his personality. It showed rarely and usually only when things were really bad. He could match Jason on a bad day, so they had a reason to be scared of him, even if he wasn’t Red Hood.

Still it was amusing to hear the slight tremble to their voices and the see the way they twitch uncomfortably in front of him. Tim stands back, crossing his arms over his chest as he listens in on what’s being exchanged between the three. They hesitate a few times on some questions, but Michael doesn’t even have to give them much except to shift slightly and they’ll start fumbling over words again. One of them finally notices Tim standing in the background and he looks around frantically like he’s trying to find something.

“Where’s Sam? Did he get away?” The guy suddenly blurts out, cutting off what the other was saying. Michael looks over his shoulder to Tim and drops his hands to his hips. Tim uncrosses his arms too and moves up to stand next to Michael.

“Sam’s seeing a higher power, though I doubt heaven has room for scum like you.” Tim has to hold back a smirk at the fear that flashes in their eyes. He turns away from them and leans into Michael’s side more.

“What’ve they told you?”

“I left the big question for you.” Michael offers, which isn’t an answer but it’s good enough for Tim. They don’t really need much from them, but Michael’s small questions would serve as helpful intel. The real questions were finding out who else they had to track down and, where to find them. Tim smirks and turns back to the two trembling men. He leans forward a little and offers them a sideways smile.

“Now, how about you tell me who or what you’re working for, before you join him?” Tim tilts his head a little in Michael’s direction.

They probably know that they’re not here to kill, but being Red Hood, he’s ‘unpredictable’. The henchmen don’t really react to the threat. Playing the nice guy isn’t going to them anywhere in that case. Tim steps in fast and grabs hold of one of their shirts and pulls them as closer as their restraints will allow him to. The sound that the guy makes almost makes Tim laugh, but he manages to hold it back.

“Do I really need to ask again?” Tim growls. And he’ll never be as intimidating as the others, god even Dick was more intimidating than him, but that wasn’t going to stop him from showing someone he’s being serious.

“N-no, please don’t.” The guy shakes violently as the other guy is trying to shrink away into the ground by the looks of it. Tim snarls and aggressively drops him back down.

“Good, tell me everything you know.”

\- - -

“You don’t really expect me to put them in Arkham do you?” Gordon mumbles, watching as the cops collect up all the guards.

“Only the two we interrogated.” Tim confirms. But Gordon still doesn’t look happy about it.

“They’re not that high of a threat.”

“Look their story was flimsy at best but it was the only one we were gonna get from them, if they really do work for Black Mask I want to make sure they don’t get back out there while we sort this out.”

“But that’s not even the main concern.” Michael throws in and Tim nods in agreement.

“Some of the stuff they said was very, Court of Owls-esk. I’m not taking any risks. Because if they’re a helping hand for the Court it’s even worse than them working for Black Mask. And the more likely story is that they _do_ work for the Court and were using Mask as a cover up story to throw us off.” Tim eyes the two men, like maybe he could piece it together by staring them down. They don’t look as miserable about being thrown in jail as he’d thought. Though after their life was threatened, prison would be the better option.

“What does Batman think?” Gordon asks and Tim sighs.

“I’ll talk to him about it when I get back.” He assures, which was the plan anyway.

“Unless he agrees, they’re not going to Arkham.” And with that Gordon walks off, calling out orders to the other cops.

“You’d think after all this time he’d trust in your judgment a little more.” Michael scoffs and Tim shrugs and averts his attention to his gauntlet.

“He still has a hard time trusting Batman.”

“Don’t take it personally.” Someone suddenly speaks up, enough to startle them both. Tim turns to see familiar red curls. “He’s just having a bad day.”

“Aren’t we the ones who’re meant to be stealthy? You don’t need to sneak up on us.”

“Hi to you too, it’s been ages.” Barbara nudges Tim’s side and smirks up at him.

“I’ve been busy.”

“Aren’t you always.” She looks over to Michael and offers him a wide smile. “Feels like forever since I’ve seen you, pretty sure you were a lot shorter.”

“He’s racing Jason to the moon.” Tim mumbles so that other people around them don’t catch the name drop and Barbara laughs.

“Leaving little ol’ you behind.”

“Hey at least I’m taller than you.” Tim grumbles, giving his attention back to her as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“Just, and not when I’m in heels.” She chuckles, looking over her shoulder to see what everyone else was doing before she looks back to them. “So how’s it been, anything new going on?”

“Not really.” Tim shrugs, maybe a little too quickly.

“I’ve got six weeks of college left, then I’m free, so that’s exciting.” Michael proudly boasts.

“I thought you had another year?”

“Yeah, that was this year.” Michael smirks and Barbara chuckles, maybe more to herself then Michael.

“I’m really good at keeping track of things, have you noticed?”

“Your skills are unmatched.” Tim quips and she nudges him again. “I was half expecting you to show up to the gala, unless you were there and I completely missed you, which makes me an asshole.”

“No, last minute plans, couldn’t show. I was _devastated_.” She exaggerates it, but she can’t stop smirking.

“I can imagine.”

“God we really need to catch up. I miss Jason’s stupid face and Dick’s painful jokes.” She chuckles, resting her hands on her hips.

“You know where to find us, Alfred isn’t going to say you can’t come in.”

“Maybe I’ll get Steph and Cass to come with.”

“I can’t even remember the last time I saw Cass face to face.” Tim mumbles and Barbara offers him a sad smile.

“I know. Was a lot easier when we were still ‘kids’ wasn’t it?” She bows her a head a little and sighs.

“When adult life wasn’t something we worried about, when we had to fight to get out of each other’s hair.” Tim agrees and Barbara chuckles again.

“Pity we had to grow up. Word of advise kiddo, don’t.” She tilts her head in Michael’s direction.

“Bit late for me. I’ll be sure to remind the next one.” There’s nothing to it, it’s not pointing fingers but still Tim swallows a little thickly.

“I’m sure once Walls and Dick actually marry, kids won’t be far behind.” Her tone of voice is light but Tim can hear the little bit of sadness in her voice. They all felt the same way, there was pity for the two not being able to take that step yet despite how much everyone could see they wanted to.

“Unless mister impulse adopts another kid.” Michael shrugs.

“I’m hoping you mean Jason and not Bruce.”

“Don’t rule Bruce out just yet, you never know.” Tim smirks which gets a laugh out of Barbara.

“Because he needs more kids in his house.”

“I guarantee if we all moved out, he’d beg us to come back and threaten to adopt an entire orphanage if we refused.”

“I wish that wasn’t true.” Barbara’s full on laughing now, hunch over slightly and wiping at her eyes because they all knew it was true. The manor was too big, Bruce couldn’t live in an empty house on his own anymore, he’d lose his mind.

“Barbara.” They all avert their attention to see Jim waving her over, now that everything was dealt with. She sighs and turns back to Tim to give him a soft smile.

“But seriously, let me know when you’ll have a moment to catch up.”

“I uh, I’ve cut back my hours and for the time being I’ll be working from home anyway, Bruce’s orders.” Tim offers and her eyes light up, her smiling widening too with the thought.

“Awesome! I’ll try and get everyone together within the next few weeks.”

“The others will be happy to see you.” Tim smiles softly and she steps up to him to pull him into a tight hug.

“I can’t wait.” She holds on a little longer than Tim thought she would, even going far enough to give him a small squeeze before she pulls back. She turns to Michael and holds her arms open and gives him a quick hug too. “Keep your dad out of trouble.”

“I’m trying my best.” He chuckles and she shakes her head as she steps away. She gives them a small wave before she turns and heads over to Jim, a small bounce in her step. Gordon, raises his hand in a small wave before he turns too and they head over to their car. And in the same motion, Tim and Michael take off to the roofs, making their way back home in the early hours of the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	22. 'It's nothing'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda over ao3 but whatever
> 
> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out
> 
> Especially if I end up giving up on this stupid website because I'll probably start posting this there instead then aha......haha... fuck ao3

The duo were almost back to the cave when Tim remembers about the ‘Virus’ thing that had caught Michael’s attention earlier. He slows down his pace and in turn Michael does too, looking around them a little skeptically like he thought maybe something was wrong.

“If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine, but you know something about this ‘Virus’ character they were talking about. Don’t try and say you didn’t, I’m more observant than you might think.” Tim gets straight to the point, because that’s always the best thing to do. Dancing around the topic won’t help with anything. Michael sighs and at that moment Tim wished that he could see his face instead of being shut out by a damn helmet.

“I might know something about it. The name rings a bell, came up in conversation with someone a few months ago.”

“What was it about?”

“Look, I get it, you think that getting in on this before it can become something is gonna help but I promise you, if it is who I think it is, you’ve got nothing to worry about. They’re on our side.” Michael mumbles it a little, which is infuriating to say the least, but Tim trust Michael like Jason does. He knows what’s right, he knows what’s wrong, he can make his own decisions. But Tim also knows what it’s like to try and shield someone you care about even if you know what they’re doing is wrong. Kon was a perfect example of that.

“Okay.” Tim knows when to stop pushing.

If Michael’s getting defensive over it it’s most likely because the whole thing is bothering him. Maybe whoever it was, he’d told not to follow through with whatever it is that they’re doing. Maybe he was worried they’d get themselves in trouble and he wouldn’t be able to help. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something Tim should try and push right now. They continue on in silence for a long while until Michael makes a small clicking sound which catches Tim’s attention.

“You want me to distract Dad when we get back so you can hide that bullet wound?” He asks, and even though his tone sounds light, it’s anything but teasing.

“He’s going to find out about it somehow, there’s no point in hiding it.” Tim shrugs as he looks over to Michael, who’s watching him.

“You’re lucky.” Michael mumbles, sounding like he has more to say but Tim cuts in.

“Don’t start, Jason’s already going to lecture me on it, I don’t need to hear it from you too.” Tim grumbles.

“Y’know that it’s the exact reason I offered to go after him.” Michael isn’t saying it in an accusing way, but it could sound that way if Tim didn’t understand why he was worried.

“I can handle myself.” Tim says it in a flat tone and that’s where that conversation stops. They’re both worked up over different things and they don’t need to push each other’s buttons. They’re tired too, which doesn’t help. They just need to go home and sleep, then they’ll be alright.

\- - -

Tim’s relieved that Jason isn’t hanging around in the cave when they get back. So he’s able to strip out of his suit without having him fuss over him. And Michael keeps quiet about it too, even though Tim can feel his eyes on him. The only thing Michael does say is that he’ll go talk to Bruce about tonight before he’s walking off without giving Tim a chance to say anything about it.

Tim doesn’t fully get dressed and heads off to have a shower. He looks himself over in the mirror once he’s in the bathroom. The wound isn’t even that bad, the bullet barely grazed him, he’s done more damage shaving himself. And even though it’s practically nothing and he doesn’t want anyone fussing over him, his mind does start to nag at him. He didn’t even see it coming, if the guy had better aim, he’d be dead or worse yet, he’d have to live with losing his baby.

So maybe Jason and Michael worrying about him wasn’t the worst thing in the world. He could understand it, but that didn’t mean that he had to like it. He pushes the thought aside for now and gets out of what clothes he was wearing to start the shower. The first bit of water hitting the wound hurts like a bitch but after that, the heat of the spray becomes a numbing sensation over it and he almost forgets it’s there, except the watered-down blood running over his body is a nice reminder. He makes it quick, doesn’t want to keep himself in there too long, he’s too tired.

Even though the wound isn’t too bad, Tim needs to stitch it up a little. But it’s an awkward job and he makes small frustrated noises as he tries to line up the needle in the reflection of the mirror. He struggles for no more than a few minutes before there’s a light knock at the door. He sighs and drops his hands to the basin. It’s not Jason, Tim knows that.

“Yeah?”

“Master Tim?” Alfred responds and Tim sighs again. “Michael said you might need a hand with some stitches.”

“Perfect timing.” Tim chuckles as he sits himself down on the edge of the bath. “It’s unlocked.”

Alfred almost gingerly enters, like he wasn’t sure what to expect. He visibly relaxes when he sees Tim and realises that it’s not that bad. He moves over to the basin and washes his hands, making sure to clean them thoroughly, even though he pulls out some gloves from the cabinet and puts them on a moment later. If it was anyone else they wouldn’t worry about it, hell Tim wouldn’t. He turns back to Tim and gets to cleaning up the wound more, not that he really needs too. It’s a quick job, only three stitches and a gauze bandage over it.

“Thanks.”

“No need for that.” Alfred offers him a smile before he turns back to the basin and proceeds to clean up.

“I can do that.” Tim offers but Alfred waves him off like it was his mess in the first place. Tim sighs and helps out anyway, even though Alfred tries to shoo him off.

“If you don’t mind my saying, you’re looking a lot better Master Tim.” Alfred says as Tim’s working a sweater on.

“Everyone keeps saying that.” Tim mumbles, a little awkwardly because he could see and feel the changes in his body. He wasn’t as tired, the bags under his eyes weren’t as dark, he couldn’t count all of his ribs anymore.

“Despite the situation not being exactly desirable, I do believe that it has turned out for the best.”

“Yeah, me too.” Tim says, his gaze cast downward. Alfred offers him another smile and rests his hand on Tim’s good shoulder.

“Just be a little more careful out there.” And with that he heads back out of the bathroom. Tim bites his bottom lip and looks to his reflection again. He doesn’t spend too much time pondering on thoughts about it all though. He’s too tired anyway.

He heads up stairs and plods on down to his room. When he opens his door he fully expects to find Jason in his bed, but he isn’t there. He pauses for a long moment and takes the time to look around like maybe Jason’s somewhere else in there. There’s a flash of panic that runs through Tim’s mind but he tells himself that’s it’s for nothing. He thinks on it for a moment before he closes his door again and continues down the corridor. He gets to Jason’s room and taps his knuckles against the door. Some sort of relief washes over him when Jason calls out for him to come in. Though he thinks it’s a little weird that Jason is in his own room and not Tim’s, it makes sense when he opens the door and sees Roy sat in the middle of his bed. Jason’s sat on his windowsill, smoking a cigarette.

“Hey babybird.” Roy says in a singsong voice, offering him a wide smile.

“Shit is it already that late?” Jason mumbles and Tim closes the door behind him and walks over to Jason’s bed.

“It’s not that late.”

“If I knew you were gonna be home so early I’d have kicked him out.” Jason smirks and takes one last drag of his smoke before he snuffs it out on the sill.

“That’s mean.” Roy whines and Tim chuckles lightly.

“It’s first nature for him.” Tim hums, which makes Roy chuckle as he shifts to lean against Tim’s side.

“Touché. It’s been a while, how you holding up?” He looks up to Tim a little expectantly like and Tim averts his eyes to Jason, who’s closing up his window now.

“Depends how much you know.”

“The whole thing babybird.” Roy hums, poking his side lightly.

“A lot better now.” Tim admits truthfully. He misses Roy’s little smile because he’s watching Jason move about.

“I’m glad, and congrats.”

“If I knew everyone was gonna take to it so well I wouldn’t have kept it a secret.” Tim mumbles and Roy pushes away from him and gives him a sideways smile.

“I mean we live in a world where half of us have powers or are aliens, do you really think this is the weirdest thing to have happened to us? Jason’s basically a zombie, there’s not much that’s surprising anymore.” Roy pokes his tongue out and chuckles lightly. “Sorry to say, you’re not that special.”

“Yes he is, he’s my special little bird.” Jason pouts as he steps up behind Tim and wraps his arms around his small body then nuzzles into the side of his neck. Tim cringes at the way it tickles and tries to squirm away from the feeling.

“Yeah, okay lover boy.” Roy rolls his eyes even though his smile shows through super wide on his face.

“You’re just jealous because it’s not you.” Jason teases, rocking Tim back and forth in his arms even though Tim is still trying to escape the feeling of Jason tickling his neck.

“If you got me pregnant I think I would’ve decapitated you.”

“That’s an option?” Tim asks in a teasing tone. Jason makes a small sound and nuzzles into Tim’s shoulder, right into the bullet wound. He hisses and pulls away from Jason’s body, reaching up to grab at the top of his bicep and squeezing it like that would help. Jason’s thrown off a little, but quickly realises what’s going on and pulls Tim’s sweater away from his shoulder.

“You got hit?”

“I barely felt it, I’m fine. The stitches hurt more.” Tim mumbles, averting his eyes to look over to Roy. He’s looking back and forth between the two, his bottom lip between his teeth as he locks eyes with Tim. Even he knows the lecture that’s sure to come from Jason.

“If it needed stitches it’s not nothing Tim.” Jason mumbles and Tim rolls his eyes and shrugs out of Jason’s grip, pulling his sweater up onto his shoulder again. He stares at the bed beneath him, playing with the ends of his sleeves.

“Jason, I know you’re worried, but I can look after myself. I’m not going to do anything stupid. And I know what you’re going to say, I get it. I’m scared too but you should know if I didn’t trust myself to be out there, I wouldn’t.” Tim sighs as he turns to look up to Jason and seeing the fear and sadness in his eyes makes him feel even worse, like he didn’t already feel bad about it. “I don’t want to lose this baby.” He mumbles it lowly, because the reality of it all was too much, the fact that one small, wrong move could end something before it even had a chance to start.

Jason deflates, his whole body visibly relaxing as he averts his gaze away from Tim. He could understand Jason just wanting the best for him, wanting him to be okay, wanting his baby to be okay, but this was too much. Tim wasn’t a fragile person and he definitely could fight his own wars. But their lives meant that no matter what you do, someone’s standing behind you with a gun pointed at the back of your head. And if you weren’t thinking for one second, it could all be over in the blink of an eye. Jason’s own fears of failure and pain made him feel like he had to shield everyone else from the world.

Roy suddenly shifts, enough to catch Tim’s attention so he’s turning and looking back to him. He offers the younger a soft smile and runs his hands over the bed to grab hold of Tim’s, rubbing his rough thumbs over the backs of Tim’s knuckles. He looks like f he isn’t really sure if he should say something, and for a moment his mouth just twitches but nothing more.

“I know it’s not really my place and I should probably keep my mouth shut but… I’ve known you both for years now, it feels like I’ve known Jason forever…” He clicks his tongue when he pauses. Neither Tim nor Jason say anything in the few seconds of silence that follows. “The worlds pretty fucked, we all know that and the lives we live aren’t great. But hell man, I’m happy for you guys, honestly you deserve each other and you having this baby is probably the scariest yet most exciting thing to happen in your family and you’re Bruce Wayne’s kids, so that’s saying something.

“But shit, I’d be scared too seeing you out there even though I know what you can do, I don’t think it matters who, because it could be _Jason_ in your position and I’d be worried. It’s the endless possibilities of things going wrong that’s the problem. Even if you had powers it’d be just as scary seeing you out fighting guys with guns. You’re both stubborn and really I wouldn’t want to be on either of your bad sides, but… there’s no going back if something does happen Tim. It’s not like every other time you’ve made it back here with a bullet lodged in your body, playing it off as fine. And yeah, someone will rip it out and stitch you up and a few weeks later you will be fine. But you know just as well as the rest of us there’s no shaking it off if that happens now.”

Roy’s not looking at Tim anymore. He’d averted his gaze halfway through and was staring a little too intently at their joined hands. He knew that it wasn’t his place to step in and say this, maybe he thought his words would fall on deaf ears, but they couldn’t be more clear in Tim’s mind. Because Roy voiced the thoughts he’s had from the start that he didn’t want to pay any attention to. He knew that once it was over, it was over. There’s nothing to save his baby if he fucks up, nothing could be done. He bites his lip and averts his eyes too because he doesn’t know what to say to that. Apparently, Jason doesn’t either because the room stays quiet between them for a long time.

“I know… it’s not the best thing to be thinking about, but I’m really excited for this and I don’t want anything to happen to you or them. I mean it is your baby, that’s the single most crazy thing and yet I’m stoked. Because you’re a pretty amazing person Tim and if they’re even half like you they’re gonna do great things. I wanna be able to tell them the worst stories about Jason that you won’t even know about. I want to see you both happy because if you deserve anything, it’s that.”

Tim doesn’t know when he started tearing up, but he hated the fact that this wasn’t the first time Roy had made him cry because of what he’d said. He doubts highly it’ll be the last time either, because Roy has a track record of saying the right things when you needed to hear them most. At least, that’s how Tim felt anyway. He still doesn’t have anything to say to that, but he knows actions speak louder anyway and so he doesn’t need to speak up, he just pulls Roy in for a tight hug. It’s a little awkward because they’re not sitting as close as they could be but Tim’s able to hide his tears in Roy’s shoulder and that’s good enough for him. Tim feels Jason’s hand come to rest on the middle of his back and his muscles relax even more with the simple yet safe feeling.

“You’re pretty amazing too Roy.” Tim’s voice is muffled against the material of his shirt but Roy hears him just fine.

“I wouldn’t give myself that kind of credit.” Roy chuckles lightly as he pulls away from Tim.

“I think I can get Jason to back me up on that one.” Tim wipes at his eyes and gives Roy a soft smile, despite how wobbly it is. Jason finally sits down next to Tim on the edge of his bed and wraps his arm around Tim’s waist.

“Hmm, you’re pretty great.” Jason agrees with a small smirk directed at Roy even as he turns his head into Tim and kisses his cheek softly.

“I just speak from experience.”

“You get pregnant often?” Jason teases, not just to lighten the mood but because that’s how he and Roy have always worked together.

“Har har, you know what I meant, dick.” Roy leans back on his hands and throws Jason’s smirk right back at him.

“Wrong bird.” Jason continues to tease and the remark even makes Tim roll his eyes along with Roy.

“And you’re dating that.” Roy snorts, raising an eyebrow accusingly at Tim.

“You dated _that_ too.”

“We never dated. Not once did we consider each other boyfriends. We just fucked, almost every night.” Roy states in factually tone of voice.

“That’s pretty much dating.” Tim deadpans and Jason chuckles softly, his breath fanning over Tim’s skin as another kiss is gently placed on his neck.

“We dated before I died.” Jason says and Roy shakes his head.

“No we didn’t. There’s no way you can say that you blowing me in the batcave five times and then that one time I was actually allowed to fuck you, dating. And if you do, I’ve dated a lot more people then what’s on record.” The way Roy says it is like he’s proud of himself for it and that he thinks he’s accomplished great things.

“Didn’t need to know.” Tim mumbles and both Jason and Roy laugh.

“Don’t act like a threesome with us wouldn’t be the best damn thing you could experience in your life.” Roy smirks and Tim has to try real hard not to show any signs that he’s maybe entertained that thought before.

“That wasn’t what we were talking about.” Tim tries to steer the conversation away from that, though he should’ve known that wasn’t going to be as simple as a short sentence.

“But maybe it should be.” And Jason likes to use a kind of purr to his tone when he’s being seductive but Roy was the master of it. Tim hasn’t ever heard anyone have such a perfect purr to their tone and words before that moment. And the noise goes straight south, which Tim really wished it wouldn’t. He’s so embarrassed that he can’t even think of anything to say to that. Roy chuckles and sits up again. “Relax babybird, like Jason would even let me near you.”

“Not unless he wanted it.” Jason hums and Tim wishes he could eject himself from this conversation, maybe even this room so that he could escape the embarrassment he was feeling and finally get some sleep. Not that the idea of being tag teamed by Jason and Roy was a horrible thought, because he’s definitely turned on by the idea. But he doesn’t need them to know that.

“He usually gets shy when you’re on the mark.” Roy chuckles and Tim shoots him a glare that has no feeling to it which makes Roy laugh even more. “Cute.”

“Shut up.” Tim finally mumbles and Jason makes a small cooing sound as he swoops in to kiss Tim some more.

“All you have to do is ask baby.”

Tim’s face feels like it’s on fire and his brain fries out after telling him there’s no way he’ll be able to get his tongue to work properly and ask for that no matter if he lived five hundred lifetimes.


	23. Nothing short of amazing

Turns out, his brain was wrong, and his tongue was very much able to ask for it. But only once it’s starting to get late and Roy’s saying that he should probably bounce before the sun’s coming around to say hi. It’s like the thought of Roy leaving scares his thought process, like he’ll never have a chance like this again, or like Roy is going to disappear forever if he doesn’t take this opportunity right now. Which obviously isn’t the case, but he can’t help himself from making a low whimpering sound against Jason’s neck when Roy says he should probably leave. It makes Jason turn his head to focus on Tim, completely blocking out Roy in that moment.

“What’s wrong?” And there’s a slight sliver of worry to Jason’s tone which makes Tim feel bad for whining like that.

Because nothing was wrong, it’s just that he’s got the idea in his head now and he wants to do something about it. It probably doesn’t help that it’s almost been a week since he and Jason last had sex. There’s no real reason for it, they’ve just been talking a lot once they’re in bed or one of them has crashed instantly upon their body hitting the mattress. So he’s a little worked up and the promise of not only Jason but Roy too, well his thighs haven’t stopped shaking yet.

And despite how much he totally wants this to happen he can’t say it straight up to Roy’s face, for some reason that’s just too embarrassing for him to even consider. But that doesn’t mean he can’t say it to Jason. He nuzzles into Jason’s neck a little and he can’t help that he chuckles a little at how pathetic he is.

“Would… are you actually okay with it?” He asks in a small voice, something a little too muffled, but Jason either hears him fine or figures out what he means pretty easily.

“Do you want to?” Jason asks, pulling away enough so that he can properly look at him. Tim bites his bottom lip and his eyes quickly dart over to Roy for a brief second. The smirk on Roy’s face says it all and it’s enough to make Tim’s face heat up again as he looks back at Jason and nods his head. The smirk that Jason gives him mirrors Roy’s almost perfectly. Jason leans in and steals a kiss from Tim, dragging it out a little longer than Tim had expected before he turns to look back to Roy, flashing him a sideways smirk.

“I think someone wants you to stay.”

“Oh, and you don’t want me to?” Roy asks, still teasing and it’s enough to make Jason reach out to him and drag him in closer to Tim and himself.

And Tim has a hard time keeping his noises to himself when Jason wraps his fingers in Roy’s hair and pulls him in for a kiss. Especially since Jason is still holding onto Tim’s thigh. Despite how much Roy and Jason definitely weren’t discreet in what they did with each other, they never really showed any forms of PDA, and Tim hadn’t ever seen the two physically together like this at all. The thing that really made Tim squirm was the fact that he’s kissed Jason, so many times throughout his life in this family. And he realises right then, seeing Jason kiss Roy, that back then, back when they first kissed, that was how Jason kissed Roy. It was more forceful than the way Jason kissed him, it was a kiss with one goal which was to end the night with them fucking. Which might explain why Tim’s never seen Jason kiss Roy. Because they didn’t kiss with the intent of showing feelings, they did that through other means.

All too soon they’re pulling away from each other, smirks across both of their faces. Tim wonders when the last time they were intimate with each other was. But that’s not something he gets to think on too long because Roy’s turning his head to look toward him, tilting his head back in the same movement as Jason’s mouth chases after his neck. Roy’s hand runs up over Jason’s back and grips his neck, holding him against his own as he bites into freckled skin. Tim can see it all in the corner of his eye, but his main focus is on Roy, who’s licking his lips and reaching for him with his other hand. Tim moves without any hesitation, shuffling in closer as he grabs hold of Roy’s arm. And his grip must be a bit too hard because Roy chuckles and averts his eyes for a second before he’s grabbing Tim’s chin and looking back up to him.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite unless you do first.” Roy purrs again and Tim groans at the sound of it, moving in before Roy can and slamming his lips hard against Roy’s.

It’s probably a good thing that Tim’s experienced Jason’s rough side before because Roy seems to be on a similar page. His grip on Tim’s jaw tightens and Tim realises pretty quickly he’s not going to be in control of anything tonight. He’s definitely okay with that. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to kiss back with just as much aggression as Roy is giving him. And Roy keeps to his word, he doesn’t start nipping and biting at Tim’s lips until Tim has bitten his, which starts off a whole new chain of reactions going on. Tim’s mind is slightly aware of Jason’s hand running up his thigh, of his fingers sitting not close enough to his cock as he grips his leg hard.

Before Tim can get used to Roy kissing him, the redheads pulling back. Tim holds onto a whimper at the loss of having Roy’s tongue running behind his teeth and opens his eyes to watch him. Jason isn’t sucking on Roy’s neck anymore, but there’s a massive red mark standing out against his pale skin that Tim wants to run his fingers over. But his attention is directed to Jason by Roy’s hold on his jaw turning his head that way. And before Tim can really take in Jason at all he’s leaning in toward him and capturing Tim’s lips in his own. Which Tim isn’t going to argue with at all. And he was expecting Jason to be kissing him like he used to back then, but although it’s not the same as what it has been lately, it’s still not as rough as Tim was expecting. It reminds Tim why he loves kissing Jason so much because even when it’s fast and rough, it doesn’t feel like it is.

Tim gets pretty lost in the kiss, doesn’t help that Jason’s finally moved his hand to grind his palm against Tim’s confined cock. So he doesn’t even feel Roy’s hand on his back until he’s pulled his shirt up and is scratching lightly across his skin. But it’s not even the feeling of it that really grounds Tim again, it’s Jason suddenly pulling back from the kiss and moaning, his head tipping back. Tim realises then that he’s actually being pretty useless with his hands because they’re just steadying himself against the bed, which is the reason he looks to Roy. He’s smirking again, leaning in to nip at Jason’s ear before he’s nudging Jason back toward Tim. But not before Tim realises that Roy’s other hand is down the back of Jason’s pants. Tim’s cock twitches against Jason’s palm as the realisation sinks in. But Jason’s reaching up with his free hand and gripping Tim’s cheek to pull him in to kiss him fully again before Tim can really react.

Suddenly that hand against his back feels a lot warmer and heavier against his skin and half of his focus is on it now. And he starts whimpering pathetically when Roy works it lower and slips it into the back of his pants. Tim runs his hand over the bed and finds Roy’s leg just as the redhead’s finger presses down further. Tim pants against Jason’s mouth and moves his hand up Roy’s leg to return the favour, palming at Roy’s cock.

“Fuck Tim.” Roy leans in and bites at Tim’s throat. Jason pulls back again, dipping his head forward, letting out a small sound Tim hasn’t heard him make before. Which in turn makes Tim whimper even more than what Roy was already getting out of him. Without much thought to his actions, Tim reaches up and grabs hold of Jason’s hair, pulling his head back up so he can watch his face. His eyes are hazy, glossed over with lust and he’s panting almost slightly as he moves back against Roy’s hand.

Tim runs his thumb over Jason’s bottom lip and without hesitation, Jason tilts his head and sucks it into his mouth. Tim always liked the way Jason looked when he had Tim’s fingers in his mouth, the way his face completely relaxes, how his hooded eyes keep watching Tim like he’s making sure he’s doing a good job. The way he moves his head, tilting it back and forth slowly, opening his mouth more than what he needs to flick his tongue over the digit like he’s showing off what he’d be doing if he had Tim’s cock between his lips. The sight always does Tim’s head in, makes him lick his own lips and whine low in his throat. Because Jason was beautiful, especially when he was showing himself off like this. The sight and feeling of Roy sucking on his neck mixed with the feeling of Jason rubbing at his cock and Roy’s finger pressing into his hole makes Tim’s head spin and he doesn’t even really notice he’s tightening his grip on Roy’s cock until he’s pulling back from his neck and cursing.

“Too many clothes.” Tim mumbles, his attention momentarily drawn away from Jason. Roy and Jason both make a small sound of agreement and then Roy’s shifting. Jason whimpers when Roy pulls away from him and he’s forced to let go of Tim’s thumb because Roy’s moving in to get Tim’s sweater off.

As soon as it’s cleared of Tim’s head Jason is pulling Roy back and getting his shirt off, his mouth quickly latching back onto the mark he’d already sucked into Roy’s neck. Tim doesn’t hesitate to sit up and go for Roy’s belt while he’s distracted by Jason. He gets it open easily enough, but he knows he’s not going to be able to get Roy’s pants completely off while Jason’s busy bruising up his neck. That doesn’t stop him from pulling his jeans and boxers down to his knees. In the same movement, he presses himself up against Roy and kisses him hard as he takes hold of Roy’s cock. He doesn’t even hesitate to start stroking him slowly, teasing the head with his thumb. All of Roy’s noises are caught by Tim’s tongue and he didn’t expect to be the one in the middle of this but now that he was his brain was having a meltdown. Tim pulls back after a minute and takes a look at Jason, who was pressed completely against Roy’s back, grinding against him.

“You’re still wearing too many clothes.” Tim notes and Jason smirks when he stops sucking on Roy’s earlobe.

“I’m taking care of my boys.”

“Yeah okay, keeping your cock in any form of clothing is doing the opposite of that.” Tim mumbles making Roy chuckle, squirming his way out from between the two so he can finish getting his pants off.

“I agree.”

Now that Roy wasn’t in the way, Tim moves in toward Jason and pushes against his chest. He doesn’t even have to try, Jason willingly lays back for him, still smirking like it was permanently on his face. Tim makes quick work of getting Jason’s pants and underwear off but before he can do anything Roy’s grabbing hold of Tim and getting his pants off. Jason sits up and gets his own shirt off, which distracts Tim long enough that he doesn’t even notice Roy ducking his head down until he’s sucking Tim’s cock into his mouth. Tim almost instinctively tangles his fingers into Roy’s hair, cursing under his breath at the feeling. Jason moves back in against them and Tim’s all but too happy to lean in and kiss him while he takes hold of his cock.

Roy suddenly moans around Tim’s cock and Tim cracks his eyes open enough to look down at him as best he can. Jason’s fingering him slowly and Tim hums against Jason’s mouth before he closes his eyes again. Tim’s slowly starting to realise that Jason and Roy have learnt from each other, or maybe it’s just that Jason’s learnt what he knows from Roy because if he was oblivious and blindfolded he’d probably think Jason was blowing him. The way Roy moves his head, the way he curls his tongue it’s the same way Jason does it all. If Tim really thinks about it, that made sense, considering Roy is the first guy Jason was ever with, hell he’s pretty sure his  _ first time _ was with Roy.

Jason pulls back from kissing Tim and looks down to Roy, which in turn makes Tim do the same. Tim always thought of himself as super pale, but even against Roy, he looks a little tan which is sort of amusing. But the best thing about it was that the blush from his cheeks travelled all the way down his neck and to his shoulders and surprisingly made his freckles seem to stand out more. Tim could see why people were into redheads. His mind detours for a second, thinking about if Wally looked as good as Roy did like this but he’s able to focus his attention back on stroking Jason’s cock before he gets any ideas.

Roy pulls back, moaning and panting as he moves his hips back against Jason’s hand. He’s not occupied enough to neglect Tim’s cock completely and idly strokes at him while he tries to catch his breath. He looks up to the two of them, licking his lips before he pushes himself back up and makes to reach for Tim again- but Jason’s suddenly letting go of Tim and pressing his hands to Roy’s chest.

“You first Harper.” Jason shoves and Roy goes down, but not before he’s grabbing hold of Jason’s arm and pulling him down with him. And suddenly Tim’s left sitting there watching the two kiss the oxygen from the other as Jason pins Roy down and grinds full body against him. Not that Tim’s going to complain because being able to see every muscle in Jason’s back move like that has his cock twitching. The sight only lasts a few seconds before Jason’s turning to look up at Tim.

“If you want him to keep up you gotta get him off first.” And the way Jason says it is like Tim might even be questioning what was going on when he wasn’t in the slightest. But it was a nice thing to know, for future reference of course.

“You make it sound like I come prematurely when the truth is you take fucking years to get off.” Roy huffs and Tim wants to lean down and kiss the colour in his cheeks so bad. Because it’s cute seeing him like this, but it’s also hot as all hell seeing him pinned under Jason. But he totally understands what he’s saying, Jason can take his sweet time getting off.

“Yeah, but you can barely hold off on the first one.”

“Ever thought that maybe you’re just really good.” Roy’s worked up so much that he looks ready to run away and hide.

“Aw, thanks babe.” Jason purrs and Roy suddenly sits up and shoves at Jason’s chest. He doesn’t get far with that plan because Jason easily pins him back down, smirking widely when all Roy can do is whine. “Cute.”

Tim isn’t really sure what to do with himself now that they’re focused on each other. He’s happy to sit back and watch the two but his body wants more than the feeling of his own hand. He watches as Jason moves back down Roy’s body, sucking on two of his own fingers as he goes. He pushes Roy’s legs apart and takes hold of his cock before he slides his fingers easily into Roy’s hole. Tim watches Roy’s head roll back against the mattress, a soundless moan leaving his lips as he lets himself get lost in the feeling of Jason’s hands. Tim takes his opportunity and crawls over to them, catching Jason’s attention. He doesn’t pay Jason much mind though and instantly leans over Roy’s chest and sucks on one of his nipples.

“Fuck Babybird.” Roy’s panting and squirming, his whole body trembling underneath Tim’s and something about it is so satisfying. Tim can’t remember the last time someone else was the one shaking like a leaf and not him. Didn’t help that Jason loved getting him like that by any means. Tim hums lowly and grazes his teeth over Roy’s nipple. And when Roy doesn’t react badly he bites the nub lightly. Roy’s spine arches slightly and he grabs hold of Tim’s hair so tight that it almost hurts too much to feel good. “Fuck you’re good.”

“He’s good with his mouth.” Jason hums. Tim tries to ignore the compliment, so he doesn’t blush as red as Roy already is. But it’s always flattering to hear stuff like that, especially from someone like Jason who makes Tim feels like a god. The little whimper Roy gives is either an agreement or the sound of wanting more. Either way, Tim wants to show off what deepthroating a super can do to your gag reflex. Which is completely destroy it, to the point that Tim couldn’t make himself throw up by shoving anything down his throat if his life depended on it.

He kisses and licks down Roy’s torso, looking up at Jason as he bites Roy’s hip lightly, watching Jason’s hand slowly stop stroking Roy’s cock. In the same breath, Tim moves in and licks over the tip of Roy’s cock. If Tim was completely honest, he was a bit of a slut for the taste of come, and so he doesn’t even hold back his groan when he licks up the pre-come on Roy’s cock. Maybe somewhere in his mind he could think up the reason for why he loved it so much and explain it, but he didn’t want to.

Jason’s hand dances over the back of Tim’s neck and up into his hair, rubbing his thumb over the side of Tim’s throat as the rest of his fingers grip at the long strands. And usually that was an invitation for Tim to take Jason’s cock completely into his throat, so he treats it as such and relaxes his jaw enough to take Roy’s cock fully. Roy moans loudly and Jason hums lightly, stroking Tim’s skin.

“Good boy.” And the praise goes straight to Tim’s dick, which was already wet with pre-come and only drips more due to it. Jason shouldn’t be allowed to say things like that.

“Holy fuck.” Roy chokes, something like a chuckle caught in his throat as he props himself up enough to look down at Tim. Tim doesn’t move for a good few moments, swallowing around Roy’s cock like he wasn’t a decent size. Tim finally pulls back up, sucking hard on the head of Roy’s cock before he takes him back down his throat. “Fuck he didn’t learn that from you.”

“Guess we can thank Kon for something.” Jason hums and Tim whimpers lightly. Jason must add another finger or something because Roy moans and his hips jolt forward, which doesn’t deter Tim in the slightest.

“Fuck I’m gonna come.” Roy pants, his words rushed and airy. Tim swallows around him again before he pulls back completely, letting Roy’s cock fall wetly against his stomach. Tim looks back up at Jason and bites his bottom lip as he clears his throat, completely ignoring Roy’s whining complaints. Jason watches him for a moment, still working his fingers slowly in and out of Roy’s body.

“C-can I…um.” Tim swallows, his gaze dropping to watch Jason’s hand for a brief second.

“You wanna fuck him?” Jason asks and Roy moans, his hips jolting up again, his hands gripping the bed in tight fists. Tim just nods because some part of his brain is embarrassed for feeling like he should be asking Jason and not Roy. Though judging by Roy’s reaction he’s on board with the idea. Jason leans in and kisses Tim softly, licking the taste of Roy from his mouth before he shifts and moves out of the way. He crawls over to the edge of the bed as Tim moves to take his spot between Roy’s thighs. Jason takes a bottle of lube from the drawers and chucks it over to Tim. “He won’t need much.”

Tim was a little surprised that Jason was even giving him any. He couldn’t remember the last time they used lube, he can’t remember the last time he had any lube in his presences at all. Jason obviously sees his confusion and gives him a sideways smile as he moves back in beside the two. “You’re gonna need it, trust me.”

“Shut up.” Roy grumbles, turning his head away as Tim pops the cap and pours out a small amount onto his cock. And this time Tim can’t stop himself from pushing up on his hunches and leaning over Roy’s body to kiss him. Something about seeing Roy like this tugged more at his heart than his cock.

“You got a tight little hole for me?” Tim asks in a low voice. He expected the whimper, but he didn’t expect Roy to turn it into a laugh as he looks back up at him with a small smirk.

“Honestly didn’t think you had a dom side.” Tim rolls his eyes at the statement and sits back and lines himself up with Roy’s hole. Jason snorts, running his hand down Roy’s chest and resting it on Roy’s belly.

“You’re in for a surprise.”

Tim doesn’t wait for Roy to come back with any more smart remarks and roughly thrusts into him. And Jason wasn’t wrong at all. It’s been a long time since Tim last topped someone, Kon didn’t like giving Tim that much control too often, but he’s definitely never fucked anyone as tight as Roy. He curses under his breath and has to take a moment to steady himself because it makes his head spin when Roy clenches like he wasn’t already tight enough. Roy’s making small noises and mumbling either to Jason or himself, but Tim isn’t paying that any mind. He finally gets his thought process back together enough to shift so that he’s anchored better on his knees as he grabs hold of Roy’s thighs. He gives a few slow, small test thrusts, gauging Roy’s reaction and really taking in the feeling of Roy’s body.

“He can take it.” Jason mumbles and Tim hadn’t noticed he was leaning into his side before then because he was too caught up in his own head to even pay proper attention to Jason at all. He had tunnel vision and it was set on Roy. Tim gives Jason a quick glance, making sure that Jason was suggesting what Tim thought he was, and when he gets a smirk and a small nod, he knows that he’s good to go. He tightens his hold on Roy’s thighs and smirks down at the redhead before he pulls back. And before Roy can even really take in the feeling of Tim sliding back he’s slamming back into him hard.

The thing is, Tim dated a  _ super _ , it’s not exactly easy to give a super a good time if you can’t keep up. Tim’s always been a fast learner and despite the fact that he didn’t top Kon a lot, he knew how to make it good for him when he did. And he really liked showing off his skills whenever he could, so working himself up to be able to fuck hard and fast enough to be good enough for a super is a hell of a fuck to anyone else. So even if Tim wouldn’t pin himself as someone with dominant traits, he was far from a sub.

Roy cries out, obviously not expecting it but clearly able and willing to take it. Tim smirks at the noises flowing from Roy’s mouth as he drills into Roy. Jason leans in and kisses over Tim’s neck before he’s moving back up next to Roy. He grabs hold of Roy’s hair and pulls his head back even further, straining his neck so that he can lean in and bite across his throat. So Roy liked it rough, really rough Tim can only assume from the fact that Jason scratches his nails down Roy’s chest enough to leave dark red lines in his skin while he continues to bruise up his throat. Tim tightens his hold until it makes his fingers hurt from gripping Roy’s thighs so hard and really starts to give it to him.

“Jay, Jay, Jay.” Roy starts panting, the tone of his voice getting more desperate and whiney the more he says Jason’s name like it’s a mantra. Jason shakes his head and pulls back, forcing Roy’s head up so that he’s looking down to Tim.

“Say his name.” Jason growls, biting Roy’s earlobe enough to look painful. But Roy doesn’t even flinch, just whines more and arches into the feeling of Jason’s nails digging into his side.

“Fuck, Tim, Timmm.” Roy’s head drops back when Jason’s done sucking on his ear, moaning louder than he has all night so far. Jason praises him and his hips jolt with it, a whimper following it like he lived for Jason’s praise, which Tim could totally understand. Jason leans back in and bites Roy’s neck once more before he sits up and strokes at his own cock which he’d been neglecting. Roy watches him, licking his lips and half moaning half whining as every one of Tim’s thrusts jolt him against the bed. Jason smirks and pushes himself up onto his knees more, pumping his fist over his cock. He doesn’t say anything as he shifts forward, and Roy leans up into him, eagerly taking Jason’s cock into his mouth.

“Fuck.” Tim pants, trying to get a better grip on Roy’s thighs. He quickly aborts the idea and instead grabs hold of Roy’s hips and starts railing into him like that. Jason tips his head back, enough to make Tim want to lean in and suck on his throat as he lets a small moan escape his lips. Tim wished he wasn’t so reserved when he was intimate. The only time that Jason wasn’t was when he was being eaten out or overstimulated to the point he was just a mess. Tim wants to get more noise from him.

Jason lets Roy suck his cock at his own pace for a little before he pushes Roy’s head back and moves forward more. Roy whines low in his throat and clenches around Tim’s cock, right before Jason starts to fuck his throat. He’s not overly rough about it, but he’s not being that forgiving either. Tim holds back a moan at the sight and the fact that the motions make Roy clench around him almost rhythmically.

“Fuck, you two play rough.” Tim mumbles, giving himself a moment as he slows his thrusts, pushing long and hard into Roy, letting the feeling of Roy’s body around his cock really set in. Because hell did it feel amazing.

“You’re not really surprised that Roy’s into kinky shit, are you?” Jason asks, grunting low when Roy gags a little on his cock.

“I’d be more surprised if he wasn’t.” Tim smirks and picks up his pace again, which makes Roy make more amazing noises around Jason’s cock. “Good thing I can keep up.”

Suddenly Roy’s patting Jason’s thigh and Jason’s pulling back and sliding his cock from Roy’s mouth. Tim feels like he should stop, not really sure what’s going on but Jason hasn’t even turned to him so he guesses that it’s okay for him to keep going. Roy swallows roughly and thickly, like Jason’s cock was still preventing him from being able to breathe properly. Jason runs his hand down Roy’s body and rests it on his hip again, though his attention is still on watching Roy.

“Oh fuck, fuck fuck, Jay. Tim, Tim, fuck me. Fuck, I’m gonna come, Tim, Tim. Jay, fuck Tim.” Roy’s mouth doesn’t stop running, a spew of words and plain noise pouring out of his mouth to the point that Jason and Tim’s names meld into the one sound, the same word as he squirms under Tim’s hands. Jason moves his hand and grips Roy’s cock and starts stroking him hard and fast.

“Fuck Roy.” Tim whimpers, his head spinning with how impossibly tight Roy’s clenching around him. He watches as Roy’s whole body tightens up on itself but his attention is dragged away by Jason talking to him.

“Don’t you let yourself come. We’re not done.” He smirks, something a little sinister and Tim bites his bottom lip and looks back down over Roy’s body. He’s not sure if he’ll be able to hold off when Roy comes on his cock, judging by how tight he already is. But he knows the worst thing he could do for Roy right now is pull out and let Jason get him off with his hand alone.

So he tells himself to focus and keeps fucking Roy until the redheads crying out. His whole body seems to snap, his tense muscles twisting and releasing as he comes, shooting his load over his body. Tim bites into his own tongue to distract himself from how amazing Roy feels around him, bowing his head and muttering to himself as his rhythm stutters horribly. It’s a good thing he’s always been pretty good at edging himself otherwise he’d be coming with Roy. And at that moment he remembers how much he simultaneously loves and hates being edged because it feels like hell but it’s also so amazing.

As soon as Roy’s body starts to relax and he isn’t clenching down on Tim’s cock, he pulls out because otherwise, he might die. Jason keeps stroking Roy’s cock slowly until the redheads able to form proper words again. Jason chuckles and leans up to give Roy a soft and quick kiss. Tim crawls up Roy’s body and takes Jason’s place, kissing Roy a little more forcefully and for longer. His dick feels ready to explode and so he tries to lose himself in the feeling of Roy’s lips on his own, but the fact that he can taste Jason on Roy’s tongue isn’t helping. When he pulls back he sits between Roy’s thighs again and lightly runs his hands over Roy’s legs.

“Shit, your boy can fuck.” Roy pants, slapping his hand lightly over Jason’s thigh as he stares up at the ceiling.

“Told you,” Jason smirks and Roy nods, his eyes falling closed as he sucks in a breath.

“Only person who’s done better was when Kon fucked me that one time. Can only guess that trick came from being with him too.” Roy finally looks back down to Tim, giving him a lopsided smile. Tim shrugs and leans back on his hands and returns Roy’s smile.

“Or maybe I’m just  _ that _ good.” He tries for smug but his dick is kindly reminding him how hard it is right now and how close he’d been to coming just moments ago.

“Fuck man I don’t doubt it.” Even though Roy isn’t saying it in a teasing tone Tim can’t help but think that he’s right about Kon. He doesn’t need to be thinking about it, but he is and that sucks a lot. He must show that he’s a little on edge because Jason shifts over to him and unexplainably pulls him in for a kiss that’s a lot softer than any of the kisses that have been shared between the three all night.

“It’s just us baby if you say so we’ll stop talking about it.” Jason whispers like he just knew what was going through Tim’s head. And maybe he did, maybe he really did see the way that Tim’s body language had changed because they’d spent too much time talking about Kon. Or maybe he just knew that Tim still wasn’t okay discussing him for long periods of time because he still wasn’t okay.

“I just… really need you to fuck me.” Tim mumbles and even though Jason knows that this is something serious they should probably be working out he chuckles and smirks, more for Tim’s sake than anything else. Tim can tell that it’s a little forced and not at all sincere, but he doesn’t really want to point it out. It’s not like this is the first time he’s snubbed off talking about Kon since he broke up with him.

“Subtlety isn’t a strong point with you is it?” Jason asks and Tim hums, reaching up to grip the back of Jason’s hair.

“Have you met my boyfriend? Subtlety isn’t something we’re good at.” Tim pulls Jason back in and starts kissing him again, full and rough again because he kind of really needs to get that ball rolling again before  _ his _ balls explode. He tries to push his body up into Jason’s but isn’t able to because Jason has his hand on his hip and is keeping him pressed down into the bed as he crawls more over his body. The movement is enough to push Tim down completely, laying him out underneath Jason’s own body.

They continue kissing for a bit, Tim’s mind completely lost in thoughts of Jason, in the feeling of Jason that he kind of forgets it’s not just the two of them in the room. That is until Jason suddenly pulls away from Tim’s mouth, saliva connecting their lips for a few seconds as he moans and arches his back. A whimper follows soon after as Jason bites his bottom lip and ducks his head down, low enough that his hair gets in Tim’s face. And Tim’s seen Jason like this, though it was a long time ago, he’d recognize that sound anywhere. He tilts his head and looks down their bodies and sure enough, Roy’s eating him out.

Tim never used the term slut to describe anyone other than himself, even if the word never went past his own thoughts. But there was really no other word he could think up to describe the way Jason got when he was being eaten out. The way he becomes completely compliant, the way he shakes and squirms, the sounds he makes and the fact that his brain almost shuts down and he’s turned into a useless mess. He has to be told what to do otherwise he’ll just lay there whimpering away until whoever is done with him. Even after he’s come he can’t collect himself, it’s like he doesn’t even know it’s happened until it’s all over. So Tim thinks this once he can get away with calling Jason a slut for this, though knowing the person he is, Jason would wear that like a medal.

“Always so good Jaybird.” Roy hums, licking his lips as he sits up straighter behind Jason, chuckling when Jason continues to pant for a few beats after Roy’s pulled back.

“Fuck.” It seems to be the only word Jason’s brain can create because his mouth keeps moving like he’s saying more, only nothing comes out. He sits up and reaches back, pulling Roy in for a rough kiss. It doesn’t last though when Roy pushes Jason away and nods toward Tim.

“You’ve got someone who needs your attention, don’t let him down.” Roy’s voice grumbles low in his chest, Tim can almost hear the vibrations it creates. Roy kisses the back of Jason’s neck before he’s moving back down his body and getting his mouth on Jason’s hole again. Jason doesn’t move for a moment, sounds of pleasure getting caught in his throat as his eyes roll closed. But he’s quick to snap out of it when Roy makes a small growling noise like he’s reminding him to get to work and then Jason’s dropping back down and biting hard at Tim’s neck.

The sudden pain is enough to make him cry out, but it doesn’t last long, the feeling of pleasure it brings quickly coursing through his body only a moment after. He curses under his breath and runs his hands down Jason’s back, digging his nails into his skin roughly, enough to leave angry red lines that matched the ones Jason had left on Roy’s chest. But before Tim’s body can even get used to the feeling, Jason’s pulling away from his neck and kissing down his chest. But that doesn’t last long either, it’s like Jason’s mind is telling him to do so many things at once that he’s trying to get it all done instead of choosing just one. He pulls back and sucks two of his fingers into his mouth, whimpering around the digits as he rocks back against Roy’s face. In seconds those fingers are slick, between Tim’s legs and then inside him, fast enough that if Tim had blinked, he wouldn’t have seen it happen.

“Fuck Jay,” Tim whines as he forces himself to keep his attention on his boyfriend, despite the fact that his eyes fight him to close and focus completely on just the feeling. But he loves seeing Jason like this, loves watching his control slip away as he becomes a puppet to Roy’s ministrations. But despite how fast paced and rough everything else seems to be, Jason’s fingers move in and out of Tim’s body at a considerably slow rate compared to everything else going on. “Jayyy, c’mon.”

“Give your boy what he wants.” Roy purrs and Jason shakes his head, still panting but when he lifts his head up and looks at Tim, his eyes aren’t as clouded over as they had been. He struggles for a moment because Roy hasn’t actually stopped eating him out, but he manages to straighten out his thoughts enough to get out what he needs.

“C-can’t hurt… need t-to, fuck… need prep.” And it’s broken and takes way too long for him to get it out, but as soon as Tim realised where he was going with it, his chest had tightened. Because even in a state of complete euphoria where the only thing Jason doesn’t have to be reminded to do is breathe, he’s still able to put Tim first and tell himself he needs to make sure he’s not going to hurt him. It’s enough to make Tim feel like he could cry if Jason’s fingers weren’t so close to hitting his prostate.

“You’re not going to.” Tim mumbles, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, his attention drawn back to Roy when he sits up again, offering Tim a lopsided and spit slick smile. It’s not as sweet with drool running down his chin.

“N-not risking it babe.” Jason bows his head again, sucking in a heavy breath now that Roy wasn’t fucking him with his tongue. Roy coos and leans over his back, kissing across Jason’s shoulders.

“You really are special Timmy. He never worried about that with me.” Roy hums and Jason seems to snap more out of his daze at the accusation and lifts his head enough to look over his shoulder at the redhead.

“I’ve never hurt you, not without you asking me to.” He defends. Roy chuckles softly and leans in to kiss Jason.

“I know baby, I’m just playing.”

“Not in the right way.” Jason grumbles. He pushes Roy back so he can sit up, pulling his fingers from Tim’s hole and sucking on three of them this time before he works them back into Tim’s body. Roy holds himself close to Jason’s back, his hands on Jason’s torso as he watches him finger Tim open. Tim squirms under their collective stare, feeling more exposed now that they were just watching him silently. He didn’t feel intimidated before but he definitely did now, which was making him nervous and anxious, even though he knew he didn’t have to be.

“You okay baby?” Jason asks and Tim snaps out of his own thoughts, blushing horribly as he nods quickly. “You sure? Because you haven’t made a single noise.”

Busted. He was panicking too much to even take in the feeling of Jason’s fingers inside his hole properly. Because three fingers stretching him wasn’t something he’s ever taken silently. He turns his head to the side and swallows thickly. He closes his eyes and counts to five so that he can collect himself enough to speak coherent sentences.

“It’s just you’re both… staring.” He mumbles and Roy smirks, reaching down away from Jason’s body so he can stroke Tim’s body, running his thumb over his skin, pressing it against his perineum. That causes Tim to jolt because Jason’s fingers are inside him and Roy’s pushing down on them basically and it’s enough to make him squirm more.

“Who wouldn’t stare? You’re gorgeous.” Roy hums, licking his lips as he keeps his eyes on where their hands are, not even taking a second to look up to Tim’s face. Tim has to hold back an embarrassing sound that the confession causes.

“Don’t say that.” He squeaks pathetically, but neither Roy nor Jason laugh at the sound. Either they don’t care and think it’s cute or something or they’re way too busy focusing on what they’re doing to Tim.

“It’s true.” Jason does look up to Tim when he says it and Tim’s chest tightens again when Jason’s soft and still slightly hazy eyes lock onto his own. “You’re so beautiful Tim.”

Tim has nothing to say to that and so he silently stares back at Jason like an idiot, his bottom lip between his teeth and his eyes a little too wide. Jason smiles softly and pulls his fingers from Tim’s hole. He lifts his hand to his mouth again and spits into his palm. Tim’s eyes follow his hand back down and he watches as Jason slicks up his cock as best as he can with his saliva before he lines himself up. Tim has to remember to breathe so that he doesn’t tense up too much as Jason slowly thrusts home.

“Fuck.” Tim whimpers at the same time that Roy mumbles his own curse as he watches Jason slide into Tim from over his shoulder. Jason smirks and turns his head to give Roy a quick kiss before he’s pushing forward, moving Tim’s legs to better accompany the change in angle as he leans over Tim’s body again.

“I’m never going to get used to how amazing you feel.” Jason whispers, his eyes closed as his face hovers only mere centimetres over Tim’s own. He hasn’t moved yet which is a little annoying for Tim but he also loves the closeness he feels with Jason whenever he does this. Tim leans up and kisses him, which prevents him from moaning as Roy works his fingers into Jason for a moment to test how open he is. He decides that he’s ready and slicks up his own cock with spit like Jason had and lines himself up, holding onto Jason’s shoulder tightly.

Jason pulls away from Tim’s mouth and looks over his shoulder, whimpering as Roy slides inside him and when Tim realises what’s actually happening his mind kind of flatlines for a moment. Because despite the fact this is what the whole night has been leading up to, he kind of didn’t think it would get to this point. But here he was, living out one of his own horny teenage fantasies that he’d gotten off to so many times back then. Roy moves first, pulling back to slowly push back into Jason to test the waters, and the movement makes Jason move against Tim and its heaven.

“God, you’re always so tight Jay.” Roy mutters, dipping his head forward, his hair falling over his face as he rocks slowly into Jason.

“You can’t talk.” Tim mumbles and Jason chuckles, turning his head again to look up at Roy.

“You’re the only one here that needs to be lubed up properly.” Jason smirks and Roy raises an eyebrow and snaps his hips forward suddenly and roughly. It shoves Jason harder against Tim and both of them moan while Roy smirks triumphantly.

“You realise that I have a lot of control right now, don’t you?” He asks them and Tim whimpers, his toes curling as he reaches up and wraps his hands around the back of Jason’s neck.

“I have a feeling you’re about to prove that.” Jason hums even as he turns his attention back to Tim. He leans more over Tim’s body, holding himself up with one arm as the other cups Tim’s cheek, stroking his thumb over his skin lightly. Roy does follow through like they both knew he would and starts thrusting into Jason. Jason bites back his noises and takes a moment to breathe before he looks back down to Tim, running his hand down over his chest and resting it lightly on his stomach. The gesture probably isn’t meant to mean as much as Tim thinks it does.

“You okay?” Jason asks in a soft voice, though Roy probably hears it considering he’s leaning over Jason’s body completely, his lips against the back of Jason’s neck.

“Yeah, but if you don’t start moving I might throw you out the window and let Roy do your job.” Tim threatens, not like he really would, but he could. Jason and Roy might both be bigger than he is and easily weigh probably three times as much as he does combined, but that doesn’t mean Tim couldn’t throw them both off if he wanted to. Roy chuckles with Jason and Jason’s thumb rubs small circles against Tim’s belly before he moves both his hands to steady himself, boxing Tim in beneath him. He smirks softly, only for a moment before he starts to counter Roy’s thrusts, pushing his hips back to meet Roy’s when Roy thrusts forward and thrusting forward into Tim when Roy pulls back.

Tim’s gut feels like it twists and his chest tightens, all while he holds back his sounds of pleasure. He watches Roy, the way he moves so deliberately, with power and purpose. He watches Jason, the way his eyes roll shut as he moves between the two, not as fast as Roy, more like he’s just trying to work Tim more than anything else. And Tim might be able to keep his noises at bay but Jason either couldn’t or wasn’t trying, which was making it harder for Tim to keep quiet. Because Jason’s noises always got to Tim, have since day one and probably always will. It didn’t help that when Jason was lost enough to moan and whine like he was doing so now that he always seemed to look so good when he did. Not like he didn’t already, but something about the way his mouth always hung open a little and he couldn’t keep his eyes open or his head up just really got to Tim. Because Jason was gorgeous, especially when he let his control go.

Jason’s arms shake as he keeps himself up over Tim’s body, his eyes completely hazed over. Tim’s own train of thought crashed the moment Jason started moving. He felt amazing, Jason always made him feel good but seeing Jason fall apart while Roy makes him feel good was even better. Because Jason usually is like Roy, he moves with purpose and well-timed thrusts that always leave Tim moaning for more. But with Roy fucking Jason, his focus is completely gone. There’s no pattern to his thrusts, his hips move sloppily but still with the right amount of force to have Tim’s toes curling. Something about it was even better then what Tim originally thought it was going to be.

“You all good down there?” Roy asks, panting and chuckling as he keeps moving. Tim bites his bottom lip and rolls his hips back down against Jason’s, making the older moan more as his head dips down and he rests his forehead briefly against Tim’s chest before he’s lifting his head again.

“Who’re you talking to exactly?” Tim asks with a soft chuckle as he reaches up to tangle his fingers in Jason’s hair. Jason seems pretty out of it, considering he hasn’t responded to either of them and hasn’t stopped sloppily thrusting.

“You. I know Jay’s okay, he only gets like this when he’s really getting into it.” Roy hums, leaning over Jason and kissing the side of his neck. Jason doesn’t respond for a moment like his brain has to collect itself before it can tell him to turn his head and meet Roy in a rough kiss. Roy smirks into it because Jason’s still panting and can barely kiss back. When Roy pulls away he looks back down to Tim while Jason dips his head down again. “So, you all good?”

“Yeah, better than good.” Tim hums, still holding onto Jason’s hair, tugging lightly on it every so often. Roy smirks knowingly and straightens up, grabbing hold of Jason’s hips and really starts to slam into him. Jason’s whole body jolts and is instantly taken over by shivers as he moans loudly, something that sounds close to Roy’s name, but Tim isn’t really sure.

Somewhere, in Jason’s mind, he must have the fleeting thought of kissing Tim because he lifts his head and shifts forward for it but he stops short. His eyes roll closed and his breath fans over Tim’s face, smelling like nicotine which isn’t as off-putting as it maybe should be. Tim pulls him in the rest of the way by the grip on his hair and kisses him softly. Jason’s able to keep up with Tim’s kissing easier, though it’s still sloppy and involves a lot more saliva then Tim would like. But it’s still Jason and something about it is nice. Tim doesn’t think about it too much as he moans into Jason’s mouth, his body jolting against the bed with Jason’s thrusts now that he was holding himself harder against Tim’s frame.

“You feel so good.” Tim mumbles and Jason lets out a small whine in response, turning his head to bite into Tim’s shoulder, thankfully not the one with the bullet wound. Jason mumbles something against Tim’s skin while Tim squirms with the feeling of Jason’s mouth on him. Tim can’t make it out, can’t even figure out what it sounds close to but he doesn’t really care either. His focus is more on the feeling of Jason running his hand down his body slowly. All he can think is ‘finally’ as Jason’s hand skims over his belly and stokes over his cock. Tim whimpers, tilting his head back when Jason nudges at his neck. And that’s pretty much game over for Tim’s self-control as Jason starts sucking on his neck and stroking his cock.

“Fuck.” Tim mumbles, a moan slipping out as Jason’s thrusting starts to get some form of rhythm back to it, matching the movement of Jason’s hand jerking him off. Jason moans in turn against Tim’s neck, sucking harder and running his tongue over the skin like he was trying to swallow Tim. Roy groans and drops his head down against Jason’s shoulder blades, humping more desperately into Jason.

“Shit Timmy, you clenching?” Roy manages to ask over Jason’s moans which seem to be progressively getting louder. Tim whimpers and nods, pulling at Jason’s hair rougher now that Jason was biting into his neck. “You’re making Jay clench.”

Tim moans and starts moving his hips more desperately now, thrusting into Jason’s hand. Roy’s looking down at him from over Jason’s body, panting softly and trying to smirk, but he’s not able to keep it on his face. He leans forward more, pushing harder against Jason and leans over his shoulder. Tim pushes up and meets him. It’s an awkward strain, but having Jason pressed so hard between them as they kiss makes it worth it. Especially since it means that Tim’s cock is trapped firmly between him and Jason and it’s getting amazing friction as the three of them move together. Jason starts mumbling again, his thrusts becoming more like ruts against Tim and Roy chuckles against Tim’s mouth. He pulls away and turns his head enough to nibble on Jason’s earlobe.

“He’s gonna come.” Tim mumbles and Roy nods, pushing himself back up so he can grab hold of Jason’s hips again. Jason doesn’t try and push himself up, keeping himself pressed hard into Tim as he keeps rolling his hips into Tim’s body. Tim grips at Jason’s back uselessly, trying to hold onto clothing that isn’t there, skin that would never stretch enough to ever grip like that. Jason will have scratches down his back for the rest of the week from tonight, especially since Tim can’t get that grip he needs and so he’s aimlessly clawing at his skin.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Tim hisses, tipping his head back again because Jason’s biting at his collarbones and it feels amazing. He reaches up to grip Jason’s hair again, holding it so tight that Jason whimpers and tugs harder on Tim’s cock in response to the action. Tim’s getting close too, he’s been worked up so much the whole time that holding off has been pretty hard, but now that Jason was right on that edge he wasn’t going to hold off anymore, not like he could with Jason’s hand around his dick. Jason starts mumbling to himself again, words that Tim can’t make out and his hips start moving so erratically that Tim feels like he’s going to lose his mind.

Jason curls into Tim more, moaning loudly and cursing, his hips pressed hard against Tim’s as he bows his head and presses it into Tim’s chest. Tim and Roy both moan after him, Roy because Jason clenches more around his cock and Tim because he can feel Jason’s come inside him. It’s a feeling that Tim doesn’t want to end. The only problem is that Jason’s stopped fucking into him and he’s also stopped jerking him off now and he’s so close to coming that it almost hurts to be denied that friction. Tim swats Jason’s hand away from his cock and starts stroking himself as fast as he can. He whimpers and closes his eyes, focusing on the pulsating feeling inside of him as Jason pants hot and heavy against his chest, his whole body trembling as he grips Tim’s arms like his life depended on it.

“Ohhh fuck Jason.” Tim tips his head back again and arches his back, gripping Jason’s hair tight in his fist as he tugs on his cock. He comes between them, moaning and whimpering almost pathetically from how sensitive his cock feels now that he’s finally gotten off. The only downside to edging is how much you feel it when you finally get to come. Jason looks up to Tim panting and whimpering as he watches Tim heave with the waves of his orgasm. Tim relaxes back down into the bed, breathing heavily to try and catch his breath as he watches Jason kiss across his chest. Roy’s still panting above them, fucking into Jason enough to get small sounds from the younger every now and then.

It only takes a few moments before Roy’s cursing, throwing his head back a little as he pulls on his own hair and for his hips to stutter and lose rhythm. Tim watches as he bites his lips and suddenly pulls back, panting heavily and groaning as he pulls out of Jason and comes over his ass and lower back. Jason whines and ducks his head down again before he pushes himself up again on his hands and looks over his shoulder at Roy, his arms shaking violently. And he moans softly when Roy slowly works his cock back inside of him and softly rocks his hips back and forth a little.

“You… always have to m-make a mess, don’t you?” Jason huffs, his breathing still stuttering. Roy smirks down at him and runs his hand over Jason’s back, collecting up his come on his fingers.

“Always.” Roy pants, pushing his fingers toward Jason who more than happily sucks them into his mouth. “You two are a sight for sore eyes, that’s for sure.”

“You’re not too bad yourself.” Tim hums, cringing a little at the feeling of Jason pulling out. He tries to clench up and keep the majority of Jason’s come inside him because something about it was always so nice.

“We’re a hot mess.” Roy sighs as he pulls out of Jason, still collecting up his come on his fingers and feeding it to Jason.

“Taste pretty good too.” Jason mumbles, resting back against Roy more.

“You were really enjoying yourself.” Roy mentions and Jason shrugs with a soft chuckle.

“What can I say, had my two favourite boys with me.” Jason looks down to Tim through the corner of his eye, smirking when Tim blushes and averts his eyes. He runs his fingers over his own stomach before he sits up.

“Aw, that’s sweet.” Roy hums as he watches Tim offer up his come to Jason too. And Jason happily suckles on Tim’s finger like he had Roy’s.

“He’s kind of amazing.” Tim mumbles and Roy offers him a smile that says he agrees as the two of them continue feeding Jason their come in turn. Yeah, Jason was probably the most amazing person to have ever come into Tim’s life. No matter how rough of a start they had, there was no way Tim would ever want anyone else, not now that he knew how good it could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out


	24. Familiar

As it was, Tim still wasn’t used to waking up with Jason, so waking up between both Jason and Roy makes his brain panic a little. He bites his bottom lip and swallows a little thickly as he’s quickly reminded of what happened last night. He’s not entirely sure what it was about the two that had always been something that he would think about endlessly when he was just Robin, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the way they always were together. Maybe it’s because he was so invested in Jason that he was jealous of Roy and what they had. Before Roy became Arsenal, before Jason died. Whatever it was that they had, Tim had observed from afar and wished he could have.

So finally, being a part of that was really doing a number on him. It was like everything Tim had ever dreamed of was actually coming true; finally being with Jason and now this. There are a lot of things he hopes don’t suddenly become true because explaining those situations might cause him to die from embarrassment. Tim shakes the thought away and tilts his head to look down at Roy, who was curled into his side and still fast asleep. His hair was a disastrous mess of orange knots that Tim would never in his life want to even try and deal with. His hair was bad enough as it was at times, always getting knotted at the back after a rough night’s sleep.

But besides Roy’s head resting on his shoulder, Roy wasn’t really touching him that much, in fact, it looks like he’d intentionally pushed his body away from Tim’s. Maybe he thought he’d hurt Tim during the night if he tried to cuddle too close. On the other hand, Jason had one arm under Tim’s body, the other over his waist with his head rested on Tim’s chest, their legs tangled together. It looked awkward and uncomfortable, but Tim knows for a fact that Jason is not that easily deterred. He’s surprised that when he reaches down and pets Jason’s hair that Jason turns his head to look up at him, looking wide awake.

“Morning.” Jason hums, a soft smile on his face as he looks over his shoulder. If Tim never has anything else in his life, he hopes that every morning from this day on he can wake up to that smile.

“You’re up early.” Tim keeps his voice low, as close to a whisper as he can manage so Jason can still hear him, considering he’s halfway down his body.

“Not really, you slept in.” Jason’s smile turns into something closer to a smirk as he shifts and pushes himself up, pulling his arm out from underneath Tim’s body. He hoists himself up and manages to get his hand between Roy and Tim to hold himself up and holds himself over Tim.

“I mean, you two did wear me out pretty good.” Tim shrugs his shoulder and offers Jason a smirk.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“How could I not? I mean God… have you actually taken a moment to look at you two, especially when you’re together?” Tim asks with a raised eyebrow, only a little seriously. Jason’s eyes avert to Roy’s sleeping form for only a second before he’s looking back to Tim.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” And Tim might have thought it was teasing, if Jason’s tone wasn’t so serious.

“No.”

“Okay good. Roy’s my best friend and yeah, when I was younger I had a thing for him but that’s not how I feel anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I fucking love the shit out of the idiot, but that’s just it. He’s my idiot, and he’s been the person to keep me grounded and sane for so many years now but he’s not you Tim. I fell in love with you, he might mean the world to me but you’re what I want.” Jason can’t help it, he shakes his head and chuckles at himself, averting his eyes. “God that’s so cheesy. But I meant it.”

Tim bites his bottom lip and reaches up to cup Jason’s cheek, smiling softly when Jason nuzzles into his palm a little. “I know you did.”

“I trust Roy with my life, but not once since I came back have I ever thought of having anything with him, y’know? Not like what we have now.” Jason shrugs and looks back to Roy with a small smile. Admiration, that’s the one thing Tim would say Jason has always had for Roy. And he can’t blame him, Roy was an amazing person. Sure he was broken, but they all were and none of them were what anyone would call okay.

“So you never planned on getting him pregnant then?” Tim asks, only a little teasingly.

“Honestly, I didn’t plan on getting anyone pregnant. And you still don’t know if it was me so stop blaming me.” Jason grumbles and Tim chuckles, lifting his hand to hold his finger against his lips like he’s telling Jason to be quiet.

“Don’t wake him up.”

“I could toss him to the end of the bed and he wouldn’t wake up. He’s not as touch sensitive as the rest of us.” Jason assures. He shifts his arms a little so he can take his weight on one arm and moves the other to lightly rest on Tim’s stomach. “But I think getting you pregnant was the happiest accident to happen in my life.”

“Everyone keeps saying it was for the best.” Tim admits. And maybe he was really starting to believe that more then he originally had been, but he wasn’t going to admit that to Jason just yet. That’s fuel he doesn’t need to feed the older.

Jason’s smile is still soft and calming, something he’s really started showing a lot more often now. He leans down and kisses Tim, slow and softly. Tim reaches up with his free hand, because the other is wrapped under Roy’s shoulder and cups Jason’s cheek as he kisses back. “How is junior this morning?”

“You tell me, you were down there.” Tim scoffs and Jason hums, rubbing small circles against Tim’s belly.

“Bit hard to tell from an outside point of view at this stage.” Even as he says it though, Jason pushes away from Tim and moves back down his body, keeping his hand rested in place.

“Yeah well, it’s not like there’s much for me to go on either Jay.”

“Okay fine, how’re you feeling this morning?” Jason mumbles as he leans down, lifting Tim’s sweater up enough that he can press kisses to Tim’s belly. Tim bites his bottom lip and reaches down to lightly scratch at Jason’s scalp. It was this right here, Jason showing how much he cared, Jason being this domestic that made every bone in Tim’s body hope and pray for this baby to be his.

“A little hungry if I’m honest, but beside that, I couldn’t be better.” Tim admits, still nibbling on his bottom lip as he watches Jason. Jason hums and closes his eyes, keeping his lips against Tim’s almost smooth skin.

“I can think of a few things that might make you feel better.” Tim doesn’t have to look at Jason to know he’s smirking, but he can see it anyway, even as Jason licks at the scar that sits above Tim’s navel.

“Knowing this baby is yours would help.” Tim shrugs, his head tipped back as he looks to the ceiling and continues to run his fingers through Jason’s hair. Because his attention is elsewhere he misses the way Jason looks up at him.

“Not exactly what I was thinking.”

“I know. But it’s true.” Tim closes his eyes and rubs his thumb behind Jason’s ear. Even though Roy was there with them, he felt so close to Jason, like it was just the two of them. All he could do was hope every morning felt like this with Jason.

“You’re a sap.” Jason mumbles, tilting his head back down to kiss over Tim’s skin again.

“Says you.” Tim chuckles lightly.

“I blame you.”

“And I blame you.”

Jason just makes a small humming noise and continues to kiss across Tim’s belly. But that doesn’t keep him occupied for too long and not even a minute later he’s pulling Tim’s sweater back down over his stomach and pushing himself back up Tim’s body. Tim tilts his head enough to look back down to Jason and offers him a soft smile, even as Jason leans in and pecks the corner of his mouth.

“You know what I can’t wait for?” Jason asks and Tim raises an eyebrow and waits for him to continue. “Getting to see you with a baby bump.” Jason’s smirk couldn’t get wider and Tim couldn’t look any less amused with the statement.

“So you’re excited for me to be almost constantly grumpy, easily irritable and in pain? That’s nice of you.” Tim lets his head fall back down against the pillow and averts his eyes away from Jason.

“I’ll do the best I can to make you feel better.” Jason offers and Tim fights trying to smile so hard, but he knows that he’s losing even though he keeps trying to bite it down.

“I can’t even pretend to be upset with you for that.” Tim pouts, pushing his hand into Jason’s face and away from him when he tries to lean in and kiss him again. “No you don’t, I’m trying to be mad at you.”

“You’re adorable.”

“Don’t start.” Tim grumbles, trying to ignore Jason’s smug smile.

“Someone’s already grumpy.”

“That someone has a parasite growing inside them that’s demanding to be fed, so excuse me.” Tim huffs, wriggling his arm out from underneath Roy.

“I’m going to tell her you called her that.” Jason hums, shifting so that he’s not trapping Tim underneath him anymore and sitting himself beside Tim’s hip. Tim pauses for a moment and watches Jason, a smile slowly working onto his face.

“Her?” Tim raises an eyebrow and manages to push Roy off his shoulder and sit up without waking him up. Though if he’s as heavy a sleeper as Jason says it makes sense. Jason shrugs and leans back on his hands. “You think it’s gonna be a girl?”

“I mean sure. We could really use some more females in this family.” Jason chuckles lightly and Tim averts his eyes even though Jason can clearly see him smiling widely. “What do you think it is?”

“I haven’t really been thinking about it. I’m more worried about making sure they make it.” Tim admits, leaning forward more and stretching his arms out in front of him. Now that he was sat up he was really noticing how hungry he actually was.

“You haven’t even thought about it a little?”

“I guess I’m just not really concerned about it that much.”

“Makes sense. Knowing who’s it is would be more important than the gender.” Jason tilts his head a little as a lazy, sideways smile sits across his lips.

“Exactly.” Tim pushes himself up so that he can awkwardly crawl over Jason’s legs and get out of bed. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna feed the beast before my insides collapse.”

“That shouldn’t be cute.” Jason mumbles, leaning on his hand as he watches Tim.

“It’s not. You coming, or you gonna stay here with Speedy?” Tim holds out his hand in offering and Jason snorts at the old name Roy went by. He accepts Tim’s hand and hops off the bed too, locking their fingers together.

“I’ll be here until dinner if I wait for him.” Tim chuckles and starts to lead Jason from the room when he tugs a little on his hand and catches his attention. “Should probably make sure you get some nausea tablets first, just in case.”

“Good thinking.” Tim agrees and so they take a detour into Tim’s room where Jason had kindly put the pills on one of the bedside drawers for Tim after the incident yesterday. Tim thinks that he should probably start taking pills with some water for once as he swallows one dry. But when has he ever really listened to anyone including his own thought process?

Despite now having taken the tablets, Tim’s still a little cautious about entering the kitchen knowing full well not to put his trust into the drugs. He just pays attention to his gut and hopes that he’ll be okay. As it is, morning sickness doesn’t really need a trigger so he could still end up being sick anyway if the tablets don’t do their job. But it’s not the smell of coffee that has him stopping in his tracks, or anything of the likes. But instead, it’s the sight of familiar faces that he hasn’t seen in what feels like a lifetime.

“You’re finally up.” Damian flashes the pair a sideways smile as they step into the room, causing everyone to stop in whatever conversation they were having and look toward them. Tim barely has time to properly take in the scene before him, because his brain isn’t as awake as he’d like, before he’s being pulled into a tight hug. Steph makes a sound of excitement that is all too familiar to Tim and he’s forced to let go of Jason’s hand so he can hug her back.

“Finally is an understatement.” Her voice is light and giggly and maybe if Tim wasn’t drowning in her blonde hair he might have something to say to that. But Jason covers that for him.

“It’s sorta my fault.” He shrugs, holding his arms open for Barbara to step into so that she can give him a quick hug that isn’t as long as the one Steph gives Tim. However, his words make her pull back enough to look over to him, her arms still around the back of Tim’s neck.

“So we’ve heard. Honestly Tim it’s about time.” She smirks as she sticks her tongue out a little before she lets go of Tim and pulls Jason into a hug.

“Only a little hurt you didn’t bring it up last night.” Barbara says a little accusingly. Tim shrugs and gives her a light nudge as he slides past her.

“It’s not that important.”

“Ouch.” Jason mumbles and Tim sticks his tongue out in a similar way to the way Steph just had before he turns finally to Cassandra and offers her a soft smile.

“It feels like it’s been forever.” He admits and she shrugs and hugs him back when he pulls her into his body.

“It might as well be.”

“I know you said you wanted to catch up, but your response time is incredible.” Tim states when he steps out of Cass’s embrace and looks back over to Barbara. She shrugs and holds out her hands like she didn’t see the problem in it.

“It’s a Sunday, not like you’ve got anything to be doing. And besides like you said, when was the last time you’ve actually seen Cass?” She cocks her hip and a teasing smile sits over her painted lips.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Out of everyone in this room, you should be apologising the least.” Cass assures, rubbing his shoulder lightly. “We all know how you work. The real question is why none of us had heard a peep from Jason. Honestly, when Dick said you two were dating I was more surprised he hadn’t died again.” Her remark gets various snorts and chuckles from everyone in the room. Jason crosses his arms over his chest and lifts his chin slightly and pouts his lips a little.

“You try dealing with a college kid and then tell me how you feel.”

“Uh no, I look after you more then you look after me.” Michael cuts in, pointing over to Jason accusingly.

“Not doubtful.” Steph laughs, elbowing Jason in the ribs only a little roughly. “We’re a band of terrible impulse control and Jason is at the top of that list, only just winning over Bruce because he hasn’t adopted anyone since Cass.”

“Does that mean if Dami wasn’t biologically his, he’d be worse than Jay?” Barbara asks and Steph takes a moment to pretend she’s thinking on it.

“No.” Tim throws in before she can respond.

“Yeah no, Jason’s impulse control sucks.” She agrees and Jason elbows her back.

“Standing right here.”

“We only bully you because we love you.” Dick practically sings. Tim chuckles with everyone else and shakes his head.

He missed this, missed how hectic mornings were when they all or mostly were trying to get around each other to get on their days. The terrible humour that would insult normal people, the way they’d shove at each other when they fought over the coffee pot or the toaster. How Dick always got away with sneaking off with his shitty cereal mostly unharmed while the others all pulled at their hair because someone, -usually Jason- would be taking too long to get breakfast sorted for themselves. Speaking of which, he really needed to get some food in his system. That’s when he notices there’s actually not much breakfast happening. It’s not that late, which is a bit weird but he doesn’t think about it and goes to get himself something.

“Hold up.” Steph slides into his side and turns him back away from the kitchen. “We’re going out for breakfast.”

“What?” Tim looks over his shoulder to her as she directs him back toward Jason.

“Yeah none of us have eaten yet, thanks to you two taking so long to get up.” Dick grumbles and Tim throws his hands up.

“We didn’t know.”

“Excuses and apologies later, go get dressed before we’re forced to eat you.” Steph tuts, shooing them off. Tim smirks and points his thumb over to Jason.

“He’s got more meat on him, might be in your best interest to eat him instead.” Tim purposely avoids looking over to Jason because he just knows the unamused look he’s getting. Or the smirk that Jason will have that’ll have a crude remark follow after it.

“I swear Drake, move your ass.” And to empathise the point she swats at his butt, a little harder than probably necessary but Tim isn’t about to comment on it.

“Not your job anymore.” Jason hums and Tim should’ve really expected the follow up slap from Jason but he didn’t. He manages not to audibly squeak and is quick to get himself out of Jason’s range before he can grope him further.

“Hey, it’s Robin nature to be fond of great asses. Dick’ll back me up, he started that trend.”

“Do not encourage him.” Damian quickly speaks up.

“You can’t disagree babybat.” Steph keeps teasing, but Tim’s not focusing on that anymore. He’s hungry and feels a little bad for making them all wait for breakfast so he’s jogging up the stairs to get to his room. So he misses when Steph offhandedly coos that he and Jason are cute together and make a good match and how everyone else agrees. Jason doesn’t, and his smirk says it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	25. Bad to worse

Jason offers for Roy to join them, but he waves it off and says he’s all good before he rolls back over in Jason’s bed and goes back to sleep. The girls all try and get Michael to come along but he says that it should be a day for them, considering he’s the next generation. He follows it up saying that he’s seeing a friend soon anyway. Tim isn’t sure if that’s true or if he’s just trying to give them a reason to stop pestering, but it works all the same. So the seven of them head off, all being forced into one car by Steph before they’re heading into the heart of Gotham. God  _ seven _ , that’s too many middle-aged -physically-, and teenage aged -mentally- people to have together. Especially when at some point in their lives they were all 'Wayne’s’ and are definitely still family. Tim’s not sure if this is going to end up being bad for them or for whoever it is who will have to endure being in their presence. But he’s excited to find out.

They talk about if they should go somewhere really fancy or not but end up collectively deciding that a small breakfast café would be just fine. Though Dick does suggest one that’s a little out of the way and a bit fancier with way better food and they end up there. One of the employees recognises Dick and looks a little thrown off by the band of people that follow him inside but he doesn’t let it faze him too much and states there’s an open table in the back that should have enough room for them. They have to sit a little close together because it’s a rounded table, but they make it work.

“I think you come here too often, everyone seems to know you.” Cass mentions as she takes her seat between Damian and Jason.

“Wally loves this place and for like a ‘breakfast café’ they have a pretty wide menu.” Dick leans back in his chair, throwing his arm over the back of Barbara’s and flashing a smile across the table to Cass. Tim’s already looking at said menu, skimming through the food options because he needed to get some food in his system sometime soon. Jason’s head is tilted his way, looking over the options with him.

“A lot of this sounds so good.” Steph hums, averting her eyes from the pamphlet to look up at Dick. “Do you have any recommendations?”

“Dick has the most plain taste buds, don’t waste time asking him.” Damian mumbles and Dick sticks his tongue out at him and makes a small moping sound like he was mimicking the other.

“I bet he’ll order pancakes.” Babs adds making Dick cross his arms over his chest and lean forward again.

“Stop attacking me.”

“We only bully you because we love you, Richard.” Jason hums and Dick gives him a flat look, even as the corner of his lip attempts to curl upward into a smile at Jason throwing back his own line.

“Of course you love me, who doesn’t?” He states smugly. Tim rolls his eyes and looks up at him from over his menu.

“Get off your own dick.” Steph beats Tim to saying it, only just though and he holds out his hand to her and she slaps a high five on him before they both go back to looking at their menus.

“We don’t call him Dick for no reason.” Damian hums, his attention not actually on any of them as he too reads through the food options. Everyone makes their own noises of agreement, even chuckling along with him as they fall reasonably silent as they read over the menus. They were all hungry, which was understandable considering it was getting close to being nine o’clock now so they just wanted to get their food. It’s only a few minutes of silence before they all start talking again, having made their decisions and so Steph waves over a waiter and they make their orders.

“You sure you’re gonna be able to eat all of that?” Barbara asks Tim after they’re all finished and the waiter has walked off. Tim nibbles his bottom lip a little because he’d forgotten that the girls didn’t know yet. Tim ordering a normal sized meal that he actually finishes, is not something that usually happens, so him ordering with a little extra would be considered weird for them. He sighs and traces small circles on the tabletop.

“I’m uh… I’m trying to do better for myself, y’know eat more and better, actually function like a normal human. It’s… a work in progress.” Tim knows they need to know and that they deserve to because they are part of this wild family, but right now, in a public place he can’t tell them. Jason’s hand finds the one he isn’t making patterns on the table with and gives it a small squeeze.

“You do look better, healthier and more alive.” Barbara admits. “Even last night I noticed you looked better.”

“Yeah, you look good Tim.” Steph adds in and Tim bites his bottom lip and averts his eyes.

“Thanks. I guess?” He chuckles to himself because he still wasn’t used to all of this attention being on him. But he knew that wasn’t going to change anytime soon, especially once they found out about him being pregnant. That was something he was so nervous about that just by thinking about it his throat felt like it was closing up and his palms started to sweat. Jason notices obviously because he’s still holding onto his hand and gives it another squeeze. Tim squeezes back and tries to collect his thoughts.

“Are we allowed to talk about the K, or are we going to avoid that?” Steph asks a little cautiously. Because she knows better than anyone else how much Kon meant to Tim, they spent a lot of nights when Tim first got with Kon staying up far too late just talking about him. Tim shakes his head slightly and she nods and folds her arms over the table and offers him a soft smile. “Well, I’m not gonna give up the chance to talk about you and Jay though. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really see it coming but when Dick said you two were dating it made sense. I  _ should _ have seen it coming with how Jason is the whole reason you’re even here.”

“I think you’re the only person who didn’t see it coming Steph.” Barbara chuckles. Steph shrugs and leans on Tim’s shoulder and back of his chair.

“I just thought he’d gotten over that crush a long time ago.” She flashes Tim a wide, toothy smile and Tim rolls his eyes and looks back to the tabletop to keep drawing patterns in it.

“I thought I had too.” He admits in a low voice. It wasn’t so much that he thought he had but that he wished he had. He spent a lot of time trying to convince himself he was over Jason, but he never truly was.

“It’s worked out for the best. You’re doing a lot better now.” Dick hums. Tim smiles and nods to himself, looking up to Jason through the corner of his eye.

“You can’t give me credit for that.” Jason shifts in his chair so that he can lean back more, slouching a little terribly. But he keeps Tim’s hand in his own, pressed lightly against Tim’s thigh. “Tim isn’t doing this for me, he’s doing it for himself. I haven’t done anything.”

“Debateable.” Tim mumbles under his breath, low enough that no one actually hears him for once. But Damian is watching him and he sees the way that he shifts like he wants to argue because he’s good at lip reading but he stops himself. But Tim still watches him back as he shifts back more like he wasn’t sitting up so that he could speak and more like he was just adjusting his position. They stare each other down for a heartbeat before Damian averts his eyes and Tim quickly does the same.

“Well being in a healthy relationship would have an impact.” Barbara points out. Tim shouldn’t be surprised that she knows if Dick’s really been freaking himself out over this as much as Damian said then he wouldn’t be surprised at all that he’d gone to Babs as well as Wally.

“Was it really bad?” Steph looks like she doesn’t want to ask, but Tim could understand her curiosity, especially since they ended pretty smoothly, for the most part, considering the circumstances.

“Honestly, I don’t think it could’ve been much worse.” Tim tries to laugh it off, but there’s clearly hurt and venom in his tone. He shakes his head and shrugs as he finally looks up to her and tries offering her a soft smile.

“I’m sorry.” She averts her eyes when he looks up at her and plays with the ends of her hair.

“Don’t be. I’m happy now, that’s what matters.”

“Indeed. I hope Jason knows that if he hurts you he has five of us that’ll kick his ass and nowhere to hide.” Cass throws in, obviously trying to keep the mood light while also being completely serious.

“I don’t think I could live with myself if I ever hurt him. The only way I’m going anywhere is if he gets rid of me. I plan on sticking around, Robin’s honour.” Jason promises, holding his hand over his heart like it was a real oath. Tim tries not to smile too wide at that or worse, tear up because Jason was such a sap. But it’s really hard, especially when the others make cooing noises at them.

“I think I finally figured out the real reason he stopped doing you-know-who stuff. He’s too much of a softy to keep up the façade.” Barbara chuckles.

“You don’t even know the half of it.” Dick offers with a soft smirk.

“I’m manlier then you’ll ever be.” Jason defends and Tim doesn’t catch himself fast enough to stop his scoff. But it makes the others laugh too because they all knew that Jason was all bark and no bite, not unless he really wanted to be or had a good reason. So even Jason laughs with them, poking Tim’s side and telling him that he’s a shithead, even though his smile shows nothing short of admiration.

\- - -

Luckily for Tim, no one continues to go on about how much he actually eats because even though he was hungry he went a little overboard with the food but finished it all the same. It leaves him feeling a little bloated and sort of gross, but he tells himself to shake it off and ignore it. No one questions why he doesn’t order three coffees throughout the time that they’re there either which is nice. They just spend so much time talking, catching up on all the crazy stuff that they’ve been getting into and how life has been treating them. A lot nicer for all of them, thankfully. Typical topics come up like when Dick and Wally are finally going to get married, talk about Michael, small talk about everyone’s relationships or lack of. It’s amazing because they’re not too serious about anything and they all have a laugh and genuinely a good time. But it’s just their luck that they can’t have  _ one _ single day where everything is completely smooth sailing.

Tim notices Damian tense up first before he catches Cass staring across the room behind him with something aggressive in her eyes. He looks between the two for a moment which catches Damian’s attention. He turns to the rest of them and clears his throat which means he cuts in on Barbara talking and he apologises for it but his eyes are back to the other side of the room. “We might want to think about leaving.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Cass sits up straighter and Tim should know better but he can’t help himself, he turns around to have a look at who they’ve seen. Instantly he regrets it because almost straight away his eyes lock with Kon’s. He turns back around so fast that it actually hurts his neck and he cringes to himself at the pain. He failed to see that Bart and Jaime were with him, and also failed to see that Bart saw him.

“Hey hey look at this, a bunch of strangers.” Bart’s suddenly leaning on Tim’s shoulder, luckily not his bad one and smiling widely at the group. “What’re the odds?”

“Hey, Bart.” Tim tries not to be angry with him for coming over here and by account, bringing Kon over with him. He doesn’t know, as far as he’s concerned everything’s probably fine between them. Tim really should keep in contact with everyone more.

“What brings you here?” Damian asks, his gaze flicking between Tim and most likely Kon. Tim keeps his eyes looking ahead of him, even as Jason’s grip on his hand tightens further. It’s not likely that Kon will try anything here, but Tim’s been wrong before.

“Wally’s mentioned this place a few times and we decided to try it out.” That wouldn’t be surprising, but their timing was coincidental to say the least. If Kon’s been stalking Tim he’s not going to be surprised about that either. Then again, they’re a group of seven, it wouldn’t be hard to notice and follow them for whatever reason. Or maybe Tim was thinking about it too much and it was just coincidence.

“Bit late for breakfast.” Cass mumbles and Bart makes a blowing ‘pfft’ sound and waves her off.

“I’m a grazer.”

“By nature.” Jaime throws in and Bart turns to look at him, even going far enough to give him finger guns even though he’s still leaning on Tim’s shoulder.

“Cute rhyme.” Tim turns his head to look up at them, trying to ignore the fact that Kon is standing too close for his own comfort.

“We’re always in rhythm.”

“I’m aware.”

“We were actually planning on heading off, we’ve been here for a good few hours.” Cass suddenly speaks up again and Bart makes a disappointed sound.

“You could always stick around a little longer, or y’know, leave Tim here with us. Promise we’ll return him.” Bart chuckles, standing up straighter to place his hand on Tim’s shoulder and give it a small squeeze. Tim could understand why Bart wanted him to stick around. The four of them used to hang out a lot more outside of their superhero lives and that didn’t really happen anymore.

“I’m sorry Bart.” Tim averts his eyes again, trying to find an excuse.

“Don’t tell me you’ve got work or something.” Bart pouts and despite how much Tim will hate himself for lying the weight of Kon’s stare on him feels like it’s going to crush him. Tim just gives Bart a sad smile and looks down at his hands.

“I’ll make it up to you.” Tim offers and Bart gives him a sideways smile and shrugs his shoulder.

“Probably should have thought something was going on. Y’know, almost the whole bat-tribe together in one place, that’s not a normal occurrence.”

“And the fact all he does is work.” Kon grumbles and Tim takes a chance at averting his eyes up to Kon. His glare says it all and Tim wishes he could sink into the floor. Bart looks over at him and nudges his side.

“At least you get to see him.” Everything about the situation was making Tim feel like shit. He just hopes Kon doesn’t say anything else to that. Steph suddenly stands up and stretches her arms over her head, catching everyone’s attention.

“Hate to be a wet sock but we better get moving. Not all of us are as fast as you.” She mumbles the last bit a little and laughs a little light-heartedly. Bless her soul for trying to save them. Jason’s quick to stand up too and the tension seems to just layer on thicker as Kon stares him down. And Tim only notices when Damian grabs Jason’s elbow that Jason’s hand was under the side of his jacket and most likely on a pistol. He shouldn’t’ve been surprised that Jason had one on him. Tim gets himself up too and quickly hugs Bart and promises again that he’ll meet up with them soon.

It’s an awkward and tense goodbye but they manage to shuffle out of the café before anyone can really get that snarky with each other. But Tim was pretty daft to think that just because now they were outside that they were out of the woods. His brain sort of cuts out for a second when someone grabs his wrist, and it’s not Jason because he’s holding his other hand and so it takes only a second for him to pay proper attention and pull away. His reaction obviously catches Jason’s attention and before Tim can really take in what’s going on Jason’s pushing him back and standing between him and Kon.

“Back off.” Jason snarls instantly and his hand is back on his gun and Tim hopes to God he doesn’t have to pull it out because they’re on a damn street, right outside a damn breakfast café. Tim tries to step forward, but Jason has his arm across Tim’s stomach and is holding him back. Dick steps forward and grabs hold of Jason’s shoulder to keep him from doing anything he shouldn’t.

“What do you want Kon?” Dick demands and Kon’s glare isn’t as hard as Tim thought it would be, but it’s not exactly nice either. His eyes flick between Jason and Dick for a moment before he finally looks back to Tim.

“To apologise.” He mumbles and Tim’s gut churns.

“No,” Tim says it before he really realised that he was going to. Dick looks back to him and he sucks in a breath and does actually step forward, despite Jason’s sounds of protest. “You don’t get to apologise.”

Kon looks him up and down and at this point, it’s become Tim’s instinct to rest his hand over his stomach whenever anyone does that. So Kon’s eyes hover where his hand sits and it makes Tim feel like squirming from how uncomfortable it is. But he doesn’t linger too long and looks back up to Tim’s face. “I’m sorry.”

“Apology not accepted.” Tim manages to get out without his voice shaking too much.

“I’m still sorry,” Kon mumbles but he’s backing away all the same. “I don’t want to be forgiven, I’m just being honest.”

“It’s a bit late for that isn’t it?” Jason spits and Kon doesn’t even pay him any attention.

“So, I’m going to be honest when I say that I do love you,”

“Don’t Kon.” Tim cuts in and averts his eyes because he doesn’t want to hear this, he’s still not fully okay from their breakup.

“Let me say this okay? What I did was the worst thing I could have ever done to you, but you had the option to leave whenever you wanted, and you didn’t. Because you’re just as fucked up as me and you know it. I love you, but I’m not going to fight for you because I won’t win. You don’t have to worry about me trying to get at you or…” He averts his eyes to the others for a moment. “I’m not going to hunt you down. But you can’t act like a victim in your own game. I might have been the one hurting you, but you were keeping yourself in a position to get hurt and had put yourself there in the first place, everyone knows that. So before you send your new boyfriend after me, maybe you should think about that.”

Tim can’t even get anything logical to form in his mind before Kon’s turning and walking back inside like he hadn’t just flipped everything upside down and ruined what Tim thought was going to be an okay day. And it sucked that he was right. From the start Tim was after that pain that Kon brought, he stayed because it was all he knew, it was some fucked up form of normal in his life at the time.

Jason turns him around and pulls him into his chest and Tim just rests his head against Jason’s collarbone. He doesn’t hug Jason back, he doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t even really feel anything. Because Kon was right, they were as fucked up as each other, and it was the reason they were together for so long. Jason kisses the top of Tim’s head, mumbling that Kon was wrong, that he’ll kill him the next time he sees him, stuff like that. Tim shakes his head and pulls away.

“Let’s get out of here.” He mumbles. It’s not what he wants to say, but he doesn’t want to be having that talk with Jason right now. Tim looks over to the others and they all look just as sorry for him as he feels for himself. He hates it, but he knows better than to say anything on it. Steph steps up to him and lightly places her hand on his shoulder. He realises then that he’s still resting his own hand on his stomach and slowly lowers it.

“You’re the strongest person I know Tim, don’t let him get in your head.”

Tim doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t respond. Jason carefully takes Tim’s hand in his own, almost like he thinks Tim’s going to reject the gesture. Tim squeezes his hand tightly as they follow the others back to the car. Once they’re all piled inside they all sit there silently for a moment, Dick doesn’t even start the engine. Tim nibbles his bottom lip, keeping Jason’s hand in his own while he rests the other against his stomach again. He sucks in a small breath and tilts his head slightly toward Jason and looks up to him through the corner of his eye. Jason’s looking back at him with sad eyes.

“I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” Tim manages to get out.

“No, you don’t Tim.” Cass reaches forward in her seat and lightly runs her fingers into the back of Tim’s hair. It feels pretty nice and Tim closes his eyes and leans into the feeling for a moment. “You don’t owe us anything.”

“Actually… I really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	26. Just dance (it'll be okay)

Once again, Tim finds himself the centre of attention in the lounge room of the manor. Only this time he’s not stood before them all, instead, he’s sat down beside Jason who’s turned into Tim’s side more with Tim’s left hand between both of his. Dick and Damian are still in the room with the girls despite not needing to be. Maybe it’s for emotional support or something of the likes, but they sit down with the girls and listen intently like they had the first time. Tim’s able to say it a little easier than he was last time and gets to the point a lot faster. And once he’s finished the room is silent for so long that Tim feels like he’s drowning. The only thing that’s keeping him from having a complete mental breakdown is Jason and the feeling of him against his side. The girls look like they have so much they want to say but aren’t sure how to say it. Tim keeps looking back and forth between the three of them, hoping someone will say something soon.

“I… I know it’s a lot to take in.” He mumbles because the silence was going to kill him if it went on any longer. He looks away, sighing to himself as he wraps his arms around his own body and pulls into himself more. “I’m just sorry I didn’t tell you all sooner.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for Tim. You weren’t planning this.” Damian speaks up and Tim closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“I know Dami, but I’m still in the wrong. I knew I could get pregnant and I… I should’ve prevented this.”

“You don’t regret this Tim, I know you don’t. You just… you regret that it could be Kon’s.” Jason mumbles. They’ve spoken about this enough by this point that Jason knows exactly how Tim feels about the situation. But Jason couldn’t argue with Tim when he says that he’s in the wrong. Because Tim was right if he’d just told them, even just told Jason that night this could’ve been avoided.

“I should’ve known better, hell I did know better.” Tim mumbles lowly. Jason sighs and reaches up to tuck Tim’s hair behind his ear. Before he can say anything, Barbara stands up and moves over to them. She lets out her own soft sigh and crouches down in front of them.

“You’re right, it’s a lot to take in. But honestly… If you two are happy, I don’t really care about how this is even possible. It’s happening, we need to all just come to terms with that and move on because that’s not going to change anytime soon.” She reaches out and takes Tim’s hands in her own. “I’ve been at the mercy of the Joker, he nearly destroyed my life. He took my legs from me he… So many times I wished he’d just killed me because I couldn’t live with what had happened. But I made it through all that and I came out the stronger person. Don’t let this ruin you, Tim.”

Tim sucks his bottom lip between his teeth and squeezes her hands tightly in his own. The room falls silent again between them all and Tim casts his eyes downward. He knew they wouldn’t hate him, but their silence was unnerving. At least it was better than everyone trying to claw each other’s throats out. It takes a moment, but eventually, Steph gets up and motions for Tim to do the same. Barbara shifts back and stands out of the way as Steph pulls Tim into a hug.

“I’m not really sure how this is possible but I’m gonna support you, Tim. After all, you’ve been nothing but supportive of me from day one.” She presses a quick kiss to his cheek as she pulls away from his neck, keeping her arms around his waist. Tim can tell that she tries not to make it obvious that she looks down his body, but there’s no way he could’ve missed it when she’s standing a breathes distance from him.

“Thank you.” Tim whispers, leaning his forehead against her own and closing his eyes for a moment.

“I uh… I think I might know how this is possible.” Dick suddenly speaks up from where he’s still sat beside Damian and Cass. Tim pulls back from Steph and she lets her arms fall to her sides and shuffles back a little like she was afraid to be in his space. He doesn’t really think about it too much, especially when Jason steps up beside him and wraps his arm around his waist and holds onto his hip. It was like Jason just knew when Tim needed contact from him. Dick shifts forward in his seat and clears his throat.

“So, after you first told us what’d happened to you I spent a lot of time that night thinking about it. I remember when you went missing, I remember when Bruce finally found you after nearly a week, I remember Bruce telling me that the Joker had been experimenting on you. I really thought it over and I don’t know if Bruce shared a lot of his theories with you, but some of the things he said he thinks the Joker did to you… you shouldn’t have survived Tim.” Dick rubs at the back of his neck and keeps his eyes focused solely on Tim.

“There’s only one thing that I could think of that would have kept you alive during the Joker’s experimenting and so I got into doing some research and sure enough, not even a month before your disappearance Joker had been in the possession of some essence from a Lazarus Pit.

“It’s only safe to assume that the only way Joker was able to keep you alive to endure everything you had would have been by using the Lazarus Pit. My guess is that the regenerative properties might have also triggered what would have originally been a dormant womb to ‘heal itself’ enough that it could function. I haven’t looked into it too much, but it seems like the most likely conclusion.”

Tim hadn’t expected anyone to really look into any of this but knowing that Dick had makes his chest feel tight. He cared enough to do that when there was no need for him. And if Tim was honest, now that the answer was there, it made a lot of sense. He can still recall clear as day being at the hands of the Joker, the number of times he passed out only to wake up screaming in pain as Joker tried to seemingly rip him inside out.

“It makes sense, I don’t really know what else would have caused this.” Tim mumbles and Dick tries offering him a soft smile but it’s not full or that honest.

“Honestly Tim, you’re lucky to be alive at all. The things Bruce could only guess had happened to you… thinking about it brought back nightmares I haven’t had in years.” Dick admits, averting his gaze to look down between his feet. “You have no idea how many times I thought the Joker was going to take you from us like he had Jason, how many times that exact thought became a reality in my dreams.”

Tim swallows thickly and watches Dick with sad eyes. He can only guess, he knows how bad Jason’s death had affected Dick. It was so bad that Dick could barely work with Tim. Almost every day Dick called Tim by Jason’s name, to the point Tim nearly started responding to it. It was horrible watching Dick fall apart over Jason, so he can only imagine how bad it must have been for Dick to think that Tim was going to go out the same way.

Tim steps around Steph and moves over to Dick, crouching himself down in front of him to pull him into a hug. “You didn’t have to do that Dick.”

“I know.” Dick nuzzles into the side of Tim’s neck and breathes him in. “I honestly didn’t think it’d get to me that much.”

“It’s gonna be a long time before any of us are actually okay.” Cass mumbles and Tim pulls back from hugging Dick and looks up to her. She’s leaning forward and starting ahead of her, into seemingly nothing. “We’re just lucky you’re still here, that the worse the Joker left you with was you being able to get pregnant.”

“And that’s not a bad thing anyway.” Steph speaks up and Cass shrugs her shoulder.

“It’s really not. I mean, especially since you’re bi.” She mentions and Tim bites his lip and sits himself down on the floor in front of Dick.

“Now Dick and Walls have four options for surrogacy if they want to keep it in the family.” Steph laughs in an attempt to lighten up the mood some. Tim bows his head, making a low groaning sound.

“I think one might be enough for me.” He huffs, a laugh in his tone.

“And who said that I was offering?” Cass asks with a raised eyebrow and Steph rests her hands on her hips.

“You saying you wouldn’t if they asked?”

Cass ponders on it for a moment, glancing over at Dick through the corner of her eye. “I  _ might _ make an exception.”

“Who even said that we want kids?” Dick quickly throws in and Tim gives him a flat look, tilting his head to the side a little.

“Are you going to try and tell us you’ve never, not even once, thought about having kids with Wally?” Tim asks a little accusingly. Dick drops his gaze again and grumbles to himself.

“Of course I’ve thought about it.”

“And we all know that Wally loves kids.” Steph chips in and Dick sits up straighter and gestures to Tim.

“This isn’t about us, Tim’s the one who’s pregnant.”

“And honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen. So much could go wrong.” Tim mumbles, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the rest of them.

“No pregnancy is without its complications. All you have to do is trust your instincts. If something feels off, don’t ignore it even if you think it’s probably nothing.” Barbara mumbles as she decides to join Tim on the floor, which makes him feel a little better about the fact that he’d put himself there.

“I know that, but it doesn’t eliminate the fact that I’m terrified.” Tim sighs and averts his eyes downward, over his own body.

“I think everyone would know you were lying if you said you weren’t scared.” Barbara hums as Steph like her joins Tim on the floor, crossing her legs and resting her back against the couch between Dick and Cass. Jason moves to sit on the floor too and scoots up to Tim and slides in behind him, letting the younger rest against his chest.

“The thing I’m scared of is my body and the baby basically going to war with each other.” Tim tips his head back against Jason’s shoulder and sighs as he relaxes into Jason’s body.

“We’ll keep you checked up, I know you’re scared but you need to turn that brain off and stop worrying about everything.” Jason hums, moving his hands to rest against Tim’s belly. “You’ll make yourself think things are wrong if you don’t let yourself relax.”

“I know, I know.” Tim sighs and Jason turns his head to kiss his neck softly.

“Let me worry about something for once okay?” Jason offers.

“God you two are so sickly.” Steph chuckles and Jason smirks up at her before he leans back in and starts kissing all over the side of Tim’s face. Tim makes a distressed noise and tries to push Jason away so that he can escape the affection, but Jason keeps his hold on him too tight for Tim to get any distance between them.

“Why’d you have to say that?” Tim squeaks because Jason suddenly rolls back, taking Tim with him and keeps him held against his front as he lays back on the floor.

“Because it’s true.” Steph snickers.

“Encouraging him isn’t helping anyone.” Tim chuckles, trying to shift so that he isn’t laying completely on Jason. But the older isn’t letting him go that easily and just nuzzles more into Tim’s neck, keeping his hands splayed out over Tim’s stomach.

“Stop complaining Timbers.” Jason mumbles and Tim rolls his eyes and starts wriggling against Jason’s body.

“Let me go and I might.” Tim huffs and he can feel Jason shake his head against the side of his neck.

“Not exactly what I expected to find.” Tim leans his head back against Jason’s shoulder to look over toward the hallway. Roy’s leaning against the doorframe with a sideways smile across his face and his arms crossed over his chest, his hair a terrible mess.

“You’re still here?” Jason asks and Roy rolls his eyes, dropping his arms to his sides as he pads into the room.

“You really don’t like having me around do you?”

“Not even a little.” Jason hums and Roy sits himself down beside Dick, leaning back into the couch further.

“Anywho, what’d I miss?”

“Not much,” Dick mumbles, watching Tim squirm helplessly in Jason’s arms with an affectionate smile on his face. “I mean we ran into Kon, that was fun.”

“Oh.” Roy looks them all over and seeing that they don’t all look deterred he assumes that it wasn’t too bad. “How’d that play out?”

“Not as I was expecting.” Cass mumbles and Barbara makes a tsking noise.

“I think some part of him knew that no matter what powers he has, messing with all of us would be a losing battle for him.” She smirks and Jason makes a noise of agreement, finally letting Tim go. He shuffles off of Jason enough so that he can keep his head rested against Jason’s chest but he’s not laying over his whole body.

“We’re an unstoppable force of terrible impulse control.” Jason states, reaching up to tangle his fingers into Tim’s hair.

“Our slogan.” Steph chuckles along with everyone else.

“You should get your dad to change the bat symbol to something more relatable.” Roy hums with a smirk and Barbara raises an eyebrow at him.

“It’ll just be an orphanage floating in the sky.” She chuckles, getting laughs from the others too.

“I bet Bruce wouldn’t even question it.” Cass shakes her head and leans back into the couch like Roy had, resting her arms over the back of the couch.

“He’ll pin it on me.” Jason mumbles and Tim chuckles as he tilts his head back and looks up at him.

“If we’re not blaming you for everything, why do we even bother with you?” Tim flashes Jason a shit-eating grin.

“I’m starting to think the reason you don’t like having me around is because everyone in this house would rather it be me than you.” Roy teases.

“That makes more sense than it should.” Dick hums his agreement and Jason shoots him a small glare.

“I actually have feelings, by the way, was that not clear?” Jason asks rhetorically.

“What? No, last I checked it was biologically impossible for you to have emotions.” Tim smirks and Jason pinches his hip, making him squirm.

“Death hurts less than having to deal with you guys.” Jason grumbles.

“You love us.” Barbara teases as she turns herself and lays back on top of Jason with Tim, resting her head alongside his.

“Luckily for you because I’m not a resting place.”

“Stop acting tough Jaybird.” Roy mumbles with a sideways smile across his face.

Tim hums and closes his eyes, moving his arm around until he locates Jason’s free hand and pulls it down to his belly. He holds Jason’s hand against his stomach, sliding his fingers between the olders. This was what he needed, all of them just being themselves in their own home. His family just wanted the best for him, and that was all he could ask for.

\- - -

Tim nearly falls asleep on Jason at least twice before Steph suggests that they go play some videos games together like they used to so often when they were younger. It was getting close to being two in the afternoon now so Dick suggests snacks will be in order.

“We’ll need drinks too, being competitive isn’t a breeze.” Barbara notes and Damian agrees.

“Okay then. Babs, Damian and Roy are in charge of drinks. Jason, you take Cass and get the room set up. Tim and Steph, you’re with me for snacks.”

“This isn’t a mission Dick.” Barbara laughs as he jumps to his feet and takes a posed stance.

“It is now.” He states proudly and Tim shakes his head at how childish he was.

“Am I the only one who’s concerned that he’s assigned himself for snack duty?”

“Relax Tim, that’s why you and Steph are gonna help me, we’ve got the most important part to play.” He states before turning on his toes and making his way from the room, calling back for them to follow after him.

“He’s been a superhero for too long.” Roy mumbles a little absentmindedly.

“Only what, twenty-six years? That’s nothing.” Tim groans as he pushes himself up from laying on Jason’s chest.

“That’s nearly as long as Dami’s been alive.” Roy points out and Tim shrugs, holding his hand out for anyone to take and hoist him to his feet. Cass steps in and pulls him up.

“Thanks. Well, do we want to even try and figure out how long Bruce has been doing this?” Tim asks as he crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow.

“Longer than all of our combined ages.” Jason grunts, getting himself up from the floor too, dusting himself off. Like Alfred would ever let a speck of dust settle in this place.

“Sounds like you’re the one who’s been superhero-ing for too long.” Cass chuckles and Jason gives her a thumbs up as he rolls his shoulders back and they audibly crack.

“Carrying all this around doesn’t help.” Jason gestures to his chest and arms as well as pointing over to Tim with his thumb as he says it. Tim narrows his eyes at him before he looks over to Steph and gestures for her to come with him.

“You can’t complain, Todd, at least I didn’t put a baby inside you. I am not looking forward to the next eight months.” Tim grumbles to himself and Steph chuckles, resting her hand lightly on his shoulder as they head off to make sure Dick isn’t starting trouble in the kitchen.

“You might not be but I’m excited, first baby in the family, y’know one that isn’t trapped inside a full grown man.” Steph chuckles and Tim smiles softly to himself.

“I’m excited too, but I’ve got my work cut out for me.” He sighs and rubs at the back of his neck.

“You’ve got plenty of people in your life who want to help out Tim, we’ll do our best to make sure that everything turns out fine for both of you. Jason will fight the whole world for you Tim, this isn’t something you’re taking on by yourself.” Steph offers him a soft smile and he returns it, though his is a little wet. Stupid hormones.

“Thank you, Steph.”

“Hey, what’re family for other than bullying you?”

\- - -

They spend the rest of the afternoon in what they’d made into a gaming room many years ago. Thanks to Michael still being pretty young and the fact that Jason will forever be a fifteen year old at heart, there are plenty of new games plus their old favourites for them to play. There’s even the new updated consoles with their games for them to try out. The competitive games come out first, starting with old classics like  _ Mariokart _ ,  _ Super Smash Bros _ and even some  _ Call of Duty _ rounds get smashed out. Naturally, Dick throws in  _ Just Dance _ at some point and they all complain about the shitty songs that he chooses but that doesn’t stop whoever’s up there giving it their best.

At some point in the afternoon, Michael had slipped into the room and joined in. They all rotate through the many games they go through, even returning to some for rematches on occasion. But the one they really stick to ends up being  _ Just Dance _ . If Tim was honest with himself, he thought Dick would be a better dancer then the show he’s put on today. He’s probably the best out of all of them, but he’s not amazing at it which is a little disappointing. Cass surprises them all with her perfect timing, Damian does too and together they give Dick a run for his money.

It’s almost seven o’clock and Tim’s sweaty and exhausted from the round he’d just had with Michael, Roy and Cass. They’re sprawled out across the couches with Damian as they watch the others play to  _ Hey Mama _ . They probably wouldn’t be as worn out as they are if they weren’t all trying to sing along with every song. Tim’s attention is drawn away from the group when the door opens up a little. He flashes Bruce a smile as he peeks in. Bruce returns it and slides inside, closing the door behind him and leaning up against it. Tim gets himself up and on slightly shaky legs he moves over to him.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw you all in the same room together enjoying yourselves.” Bruce states, having to raise his voice a little to be heard over the noise. Tim’s smile widens as he looks back over to the group, the ones who’re sat out cheering them on in-between song lyrics.

“Today’s been so good.” Tim admits as his smile softens some.

“I think we need to work out some monthly catch up days or something of the likes.” Bruce suggests, and Tim nods a little too eagerly.

“I think that’d be good for all of us.” Tim agrees. They watch the rest of the song play out in silence. Once it’s over and Steph is claimed the winner by only a hundred or so points Bruce pushes off from the door, clapping along with the others.

“B! C’mon you should do a round!” Dick excitedly bounces over, sweat dripping from the ends of his hair. Tim screws up his nose at the sight of it but knows he can’t complain because it’d been happening to him no more than four minutes ago.

“I think I’m alright Dick.” Bruce chuckles even as Dick tugs on his arm and tries to drag him across the room. “It’s time for dinner anyway.”

“Just one song, pleassssse?” Dick pouts as he begs and Tim covers his face with his hands and laughs to himself because Dick was an actual child.

“C’mon Bruce, I got dragged into it, it’s only fair you do too.” Jason laughs, panting a little from the excessive exercise. Dancing like this in a competition was definitely a rougher work out then training, Tim could sympathise with Jason’s exhaustion. Bruce looks around the room at his sweaty children and lets out a sigh, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.

“One song.”

“Yes!” Dick calls out excitedly, turning back to the others. “I call dibs on this round!”

“I’m in.” Michael jumps up and takes the controller from Jason that he was still holding onto absentmindedly. Jason ruffles his hair, regretting it instantly when he feels how wet the blonde strands are. He pulls a face and shuffles past the others as they figure out who’s going to be player four for the round and moves over to Tim. They offer each other soft smile and Jason leans back heavily against the wall beside Tim, letting out a deep sigh.

“How’re you feeling?” He asks.

“Amazing. Today’s been almost perfect. I’ve missed the girls so much and even though we see each other every day, hanging out with Dick and Dami like this… I haven’t felt this good in years.” Tim turns his head to look down at Jason as he stands hunched over his knees. Jason smiles up and him and pushes himself back up, pushing his hair back from his face.

“I’m starting to think that getting you pregnant has somehow ended up being the greatest thing to happen in this family.” Jason chuckles, leaning his side against the wall so he’s facing Tim fully. He reaches out and rests his hand on Tim’s stomach. “I’m glad you didn’t stop me.”

“I tried.” Tim mumbles, shrugging lightly.

“I know you did, good thing I had no idea what the hell you were talking about.” Jason chuckles and Tim hums, shifting closer to Jason and smirking.

“You smell awful right now.”

“I know. So do you.” Jason chuckles and Tim leans in to kiss him lightly. Just as he does the song  _ Born This Way _ starts up which catches both of their attention. They look over to see that Cass has been put as player four and they had started. Jason scoffs and Tim covers his mouth with his hands as they watch Bruce dance along with the avatar on screen. Michael and Dick were the appointed backup dancers while Cass and Bruce have the lead, which Tim can only guess was Dick’s doing, not Bruce’s.

Maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising, because if Bruce is anything it’s good at everything and so he keeps up reasonably well with Cass. But in the end, she does come out triumphant which isn’t a surprise because she’s been winning almost every round. Everyone cheers when the songs finished and Dick pulls Bruce into a tight hug.

“There really isn’t anything Batman can’t do.” Roy laughs, leaning back on the couch lazily.

“Encore.” Jason calls out and Bruce turns his way and points a finger directly at him.

“No.” He huffs, but his smile is the warmest Tim has seen it in a long time. “C’mon, now we’re all sweaty and gross, Alfred isn’t going to be happy with any of us.”

“I bet even Alfred is better at dancing than most of us.” Dick pants with a chuckle.

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Barbara chuckles, helping Michael and Steph start packing everything up.

“He is going to have our heads for being this gross at the table though.” Jason chuckles, pushing off the wall and moving across the room as well to help out.

“At least no one’s on the verge of bleeding out for once.” Cass offers.

“It’s a miracle.” Barbara raises her hands and tips her head back as she calls it out like it was a blessing. Tim shakes his head and pushes off the wall as well and steps over to the small mess they’d made. Steph turns to him with her arms full with still closed chip bags.

“Catch.” She chucks some toward him. Even though some of them are ill-aimed because she throws them with her left hand he still manages to catch them all.

Once everything’s off and they’ve collected up their mess they all march on downstairs to the kitchen. Dick and Steph start humming as they go, which soon turns into them actually singing more Gaga. Tim hums along to their terribly off-key singing, fighting back a smile. Roy nudges his side and holds up his phone to show that he got a video of Bruce dancing.

“Did you get the whole thing?” He asks a little too excitedly. Roy nods with a wide grin on his face. “You’re gonna have to show me that later.”

“You know I’m going to upload this right? The world needs to see it.” Roy beams and Tim shakes his head with a light chuckle.

Everyone was happy and had obviously been enjoying themselves and Tim was super glad that they had. He just hopes that the next time they’re all together again isn’t too far in the future and that it’s not because the world is in need of saving either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	27. I spy...

Tim knew he shouldn’t be doing what he was, but he’d gone through every step of action he could and had come up with nothing. He spent three days trying to do any form of research he could on anyone or anything called ‘Virus’. Nothing came up. No news, no articles, not even a single blog post. Maybe if Michael hadn’t been interested in it Tim might have thought that this ‘Virus’ character didn’t exist.

After his initial research failed, he spent a few nights running around trying to get information from criminals on the street and even arranged to have a talk with the two henchmen that he and Michael had gotten locked up in Arkham. They weren’t much help either, just said some costumed freak had attacked them and when they’d asked who he worked for he’d said no one and that they could tell their friends to watch out for ‘Virus’. Honestly, the whole thing was starting to sound like a joke to Tim, but he had one last means of figuring it out.

That means, was Michael himself. Seeing as trying to talk to him about it was in vain, the conversations always seeming to result in Michael getting defensive and angry with Tim, he’d given up on that pretty quickly. He didn’t want Michael to be angry with him, they had a pretty good relationship and he didn’t want to ruin that just for some information. Though, what he was doing might be worse if he gets caught.

Tim trusted Michael, Jason trusted Michael, but his behaviour concerning the issue was starting to make Tim suspicious. So when Michael said he was going out on patrol and he rejected Dick joining him, Tim knew that he had to make his move. He already had a tracker in the Red Hood helmet from when Jason wore it, not to keep an eye on him but to find him if -more like when- he went missing. Tim waits fifteen minutes after Michael’s left before he heads out, having to actually sneak out like he was a teenager again because he knew Jason wasn’t about to let him leave without someone going with him. He probably had five minutes before his absence was noticed, ten minutes max if he was lucky. He had to makes sure he got on Michael’s trail fast.

He gets seven minutes before Jason’s voice is in his ear, asking him where he is and why he snuck out. Tim doesn’t want to admit that he’s stalking Michael, because maybe he doesn’t have a justifiable reason and he also doesn’t want Jason to try pestering Michael about it.

“Tim?” Jason asks again and Tim sighs and activates his commlink.

“Relax Jay, just getting some air.”

“With your suit?” Jason grumbles and Tim rolls his eyes.

“Look I’m just investigating a loose link, some tip I got from one of the nuts we locked up last week. Covert recon, I’m not going to engage so you can calm down.” Tim mumbles and this time Jason sighs and Tim can almost see him rubbing his eyes.

“You went on your own Tim.”

“I can handle myself, Jason.” Tim defends.

“Last time you were out you got shot, and I don’t care that it only grazed you. Didn’t anything Roy said register with you at all?” Jason raises his voice to the point that he’s almost yelling. Tim can tell that Jason’s worried, that he’s stressed out over this, but he doesn’t feel like he should be.

“You also told me to let you worry about something.”

“I always worry about you Tim, I have for years.” Jason admits and Tim sighs, stopping in his tracks and looking at the map on his gauntlet. Michael’s only a few blocks away and stationary.

“I’ll stay on comms if it makes you feel better.”

“You coming home would make me feel better.” Jason tries and Tim can hear that there’s a hint of desperation in his voice.

“I will come home, I promise. I just need to do this Jason. I’ll be okay.” Tim mumbles as he continues on his way.

“Why didn’t you take someone with you?” Jason pushes. Tim doesn’t want to get frustrated with Jason but he was reaching that point. He knows what he’s doing and Jason knows what he’s capable of.

“Jason just… please. I have to do this, on my own. The only reason this is a problem for you is because I’m pregnant. But this mission would still be happening even if I wasn’t. So just trust me for once.” Tim knows that he didn’t need to be that snarky about it, but maybe it’d get the message across better. There’s a long pause of silence from Jason, long enough that Tim feels a little bad for getting snappy.

“I do trust you, Tim, you know I do. But if anything happens to you-”

“I’m going to be fine Jason.” Tim cuts in with a frustrated growl lingering on his tone. Jason’s silent for a moment again before he lets out a sigh.

“Okay, fine. But you’re staying on comms.”

“Fine.” Tim mumbles. He’s almost on top of Michael now and so he’s glad that Jason’s given up the argument. He ducks behind an airshaft on the roof of the building and has a scout.

One building over he can see Michael, the red of his Hood stands out a little more then is practical but Tim isn’t here for that. He keeps himself low and makes his way over until he’s as close as he can get without risking being seen. He has another peak and can see that standing in front of Michael is someone in a suit he doesn’t recognise. The suit is a dark crimson colour with either black or navy blue markings. It looks like there’s an image of some kind of insect on the front of the suit, or something close to that effect. Whoever it is is wearing a mask and stands just taller than Michael.

Tim can only guess that this guy either is ‘Virus’ or knows something about it. Tim can’t get any closer without risking being seen and so he has to improvise if he has any hope of hearing anything that’s being said. Luckily for him, Bruce has all of the best toys, including batarangs with built-in audio receivers. Tim watches the two for a moment, making sure he’s not going to get caught before he throws one, aimed right for the top of the side of the building. He ducks down and hopes that the sound of the metal colliding with the wall doesn’t blow his cover. He links the feed to his comm.

Static. He risks a peak and sees that they’re still there, but he’s not getting any audio. They must be out of range. Tim curses under his breath and slouches back against his cover, pulling up his map on his gauntlet again.

“You okay?” Jason asks, obviously having heard him cursing to himself.

“Peachy,” Tim mutters as he moves across to the side of the building, keeping his head low and scales down the side of it.

“Meaning?”

“I’m out of range, can’t hear a word that’s being said.”

“May I ask whom you’re trying to listen to?” Jason asks. Tim takes a quick look around the corner and up to the roof and when he can’t see the two he hopes that means they can’t see him and quickly moves across to the other building and presses himself up against the brick.

“Just some thugs.” Tim whispers, checking his gauntlet again. He doesn’t have any options. He’s risking getting caught as it is but if he can just get a little closer he might be able to hack into the comms in Michael’s helmet.

“That’s vague.”

“I’m gonna need you to be quiet for a bit unless you want me to get caught.” Tim mumbles, only a little aggressively. When he doesn’t get a response, he takes it that Jason’s listening to him.

He gets out his climbing claws and starts to scale the building as silently as he can manage. If he can hack the comms in the helmet he doesn’t even need to be in the same area as them to hear their conversation. He could head straight home and listen in the whole time. He stops halfway up the building and climbs onto the fire escape as silently as he can. He should be close enough. He starts up looking for the frequency of the commlink but after a minute it comes up saying there’s no signal. He frowns and looks up the building. The batarang is gone.

“Shit.” He sighs and rubs at his temple. Busted. When he checks the tracker Michael’s on the move, further out into the outskirts of Gotham, the dirtier parts of an already filthy city.

“Tim?”

“I’m compromised.” Tim sighs as he stands up and gets out his grappling gun.

“I’m coming out, send me your coordinates.”

“No, it’s fine, I’m heading home.” Tim gets back to the rooftops and takes a look back over to the building they had been stood on.

“Tim this isn’t a discussion.”

“I got away undetected.” Tim tries and when Jason doesn’t respond he lets out a soft sigh. “I’ll see you in fifteen, okay?”

“Don’t be late.” Jason mumbles, his voice a lot lower than it was before. Tim smiles a little sadly to himself and begins on his way.

“I won’t be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	28. We've got a Virus

Tim wakes up the next morning even a little early for him. At first, he tries to roll over and go back to sleep, but the action of him turning over makes his stomach flip. He jumps out of bed and makes a dash for the bathroom and isn’t surprised that he ends up being sick. He’s been sick almost every morning lately, no matter what he does before he goes to bed. He’s just glad it’s only been in the morning’s and not actually spread out across the day or anything like that. But he’s ready for it to be over. He groans lowly to himself and makes a pathetic whimpering sound at the taste in his mouth. He lets himself stay canoodling the toilet for a few minutes as he mopes to himself. There was no one to blame but himself, he had to take on the consequences of his stupidity and just get over it.

When he’s rinsed out his mouth and washed his face with cold water in an attempt to make himself feel better he heads back out into his room to find that Jason’s still lying face down in his bed sleeping. They had had a bit of a late night, so he wasn’t surprised that Jason was still lightly snoring away. Tim moves over to his side of the bed as silently as he can and grabs the nausea tablets and takes one. He watches Jason for a quick moment with a soft smile before he decides he might as well go get something to eat.

Last night hadn’t been too bad with Jason once he’d gotten home. Of course, Jason lectured him about being out by himself, but Tim was able to distract him pretty easily by sitting himself in his lap and kissing him breathless. Yeah, it was probably one of the worst ways to go about shutting Jason up, but it worked.

He’s surprised to see that Michael is sat at the table eating breakfast when he gets into the kitchen. He’s the only one in the kitchen and with how late it was when he got back last night, Tim thought that he’d still be sleeping at this hour. Tim offers him a soft smile and when Michael seems hesitant to return it Tim drops the act. He was in Michael’s bad books, he knew that especially since last night once he got back he didn’t say a word to him. It kind of sucked, but Tim had been expecting as much.

“Lose something?” Michael asks in a low tone. Tim turns from getting his breakfast ready to look over at Michael. He’s holding up the batarang Tim had tried to use last night to listen in on Michael’s conversation with whomever it was he was with. Tim turns back to his breakfast and clicks his tongue.

“Nope.”

“You’re not going to try to pretend you weren’t trying to spy on me, are you?” Michael’s tone is nothing short of accusing.

“Not at all.” Tim hums. He carries his food over to the table and sits directly across from Michael. They stare at each other for a moment before Michael slides the batarang across the table to Tim and leans forward in his seat, narrowing his eyes.

“You don’t trust me.”

“I do trust you. But no one in this family is without secrets. You can try and protect whoever this guy is, but if things start going to hell, there’s not much you’ll be able to do to stop us from taking him down.” Tim mumbles, averting his eyes to the batarang for a second before he looks back up to Michael. He doesn’t go to pick it up just yet.

“He’s not a threat, Tim. Do you really think I’m gonna run around with someone who’s not on our side?” Michael sounds a little disappointed.

“That’s not the point. And if he’s on our side, why are you trying to keep him out of our radar?” Tim raises an eyebrow and Michael drops his gaze to his food and starts playing with what’s left on his plate.

“I’m not.”

“So who is he?”

“Ever heard of a secret identity?” Michael mumbles.

“That’s not what I’m asking.” Tim folds his arms on top of the table and taps his fingers against his bicep. Michael pauses for a moment and sighs. Tim can tell that he doesn’t want this to put a burden on the relationship they had just as much as Tim doesn’t want it too.

“Okay fine. He goes by Virus and he’s only in town for as long as his dad is. He usually operates in New York but while he’s here he’s gonna play his part.” Michael grumbles before he goes back to eating his food. Tim thinks on it for a minute.

“How do you know him? And how come no one’s ever heard of him before?”

“He usually lays low.” Michael shrugs, shoving more food into his mouth like he didn’t want to be talking anymore. Tim waits it out, staring him down until he rolls his eyes and drops his fork back onto his plate. “I know who he is, I’ve known him for years now. But that doesn’t mean I’m telling you who he is.”

“I don’t expect you to,” Tim responds, finally relaxing his body and starts eating his own breakfast. Michael is silent for a long moment as he stares blankly at Tim. He snaps out of his trance after a minute and straightens up in his chair.

“So what do you want from me?”

“I just wanted you to be honest. If he’s not a threat I’m guessing he’s not going to be a future problem.” Tim shrugs and Michael crosses his arms this time and slouches more in his chair.

“Unless you’re worried about running out of purse snatches to punch, you have nothing to be concerned about.” Michael’s tone is a little sarcastic, but Tim knows that once they’ve sorted this out everything will be okay between them.

“That’s good.” Tim nods to himself. There’s a small pause before Michael gets himself up from his seat and takes his plate over to be placed into the dishwasher. “You know we don’t do this because we don’t trust you right?”

“I know. It’s the same reason that Dad’s constantly on your back about everything.” Michael mumbles. He comes back over to the table and goes to pick up the batarang again.

“That doesn’t actually belong to you.” Tim mumbles and Michael pauses for a minute.

“Doesn’t really belong to you either.” He shrugs but he leaves it be and walks off. Tim hums to himself and finishes his breakfast in silence. He’s lucky that no one else comes into the kitchen and he’s able to finish eating and head down into the cave without any interruptions. Naturally, Bruce is already down there, doing his own thing at the bat-computer and so Tim moseys on over to one of the workbench.

They might have been able to disable the batarangs audio feed, but it should have still recorded any conversation that was had while it was still active. And since Michael had to have had it on his person all night, Tim should be able to get anything it recorded from it. This wasn’t about trust anymore and if Michael knew about this, he’d probably never forgive Tim, but he had to make sure that Michael wasn’t lying. Because maybe his face was completely neutral while they were talking and his tone didn’t give away anything, but his body language was off. Tim hooks up the system to an earpiece so that it’s not blurting everything out into the cave for anyone to hear and starts working on it. He only takes a minute to get it all sorted out and sure enough, the receiver had recorded everything they’d said. Sorry Michael, you don’t win this one.

There’s a lot of noise from movement and their voices are pretty muffled for a moment before it starts to clear up a little. Tim can only assume it’s from Michael messing with it or possibly them moving on after they figured out they were being spied on but once it clears up, Tim’s able to easily listen in to their conversation.

_ “What is it exactly?” _ Virus’s voice came through the system and Tim fiddles with the batarang between his fingers as he listens.

_ “Audio receiver.” _

_ “Should we be worried?” _

_ “I’ve disabled it.” _

_ “But someone’s on to you.” _

_ “He overheard some goons mentioning Virus and got suspicious about it.” _

_ “So I’m in trouble.” _ He mumbles and the sound of Michael clicking his tongue can be heard through the receiver.

_ “It wouldn’t have been a problem if you had listened to me.” _

_ “How many times do I have to say sorry before you forgive me?” _

_ “I can’t forgive you now because he’s onto me too. I’m trying to save your skin because if Dad finds out about you there’s nothing I can do. Just because I’m wearing the Hood doesn’t mean he won’t go out of his way to get at you.” _ Michael’s voice is heavy with frustration and Tim can almost see the hand gestures he’s making and would bet a lot that he was probably pacing around in front of Virus. But it was interesting to Tim that Michael was concerned about Jason finding out about him.

_ “You know that I’ve got the strength and skill to take him out.” _

_ “That’s the problem. You have no idea what my Dad’s like and what he’d do if he found out about your… activities. And you’d probably end up being forced to hurt him to protect yourself.” _

_ “I think I do because my Dad would probably snap both of our necks if he knew I was hanging out with you. Your Dad caused mine a lot of hell while he was the Red Hood.” _

_ “I know.” _

_ “You should probably lay low while you’re here, just in case Red Robin tries tracking you down. He’s pretty persistent and… I don’t really want anything happening to him.” _ Michael sighs audibly and Tim can’t be mad at him when he so obviously cares more about something happening to him then Virus. He’s not worried about Tim getting hold of Virus, he’s worried about Virus getting hold of Tim. Which could also mean that Virus might be more of a potential problem then what Michael has tried to convince Tim.

_ “That uh… that might be a bit of a problem.” _

_ “Why? What’d you do?” _ Michael raises his voice and uses a demanding tone.

_ “Okay don’t lose your head just yet, but Dad… might be hunting your Dad down, well, he’s hunting down the Hood so he’s really hunting you down. Ugh. I said I’d help out because like fuck, I know it’s you and I don’t really want him to kill you but I can’t just tell him you’re not the original Hood.” _

_ “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re hunting me?” _

_ “No, God Mike you think I’d do that to you? You’re my best friend, you think this is easy for me? I don’t want to let my Dad down but I’ll find a way to kill myself before I hand you over to him.” _

_ “Don’t say stuff like that.” _

_ “It’s true.” _

_ “I don’t care.” _

There’s a long pause of silence and Tim chews his bottom lip and keeps fiddling with the batarang. This was serious, someone was hunting down Jason, and by default Michael.

_ “So um… maybe you should lay low too. Because I don’t doubt that Dad will try to kill you if he gets his hands on you.” _

_ “And there’s no way I could ever overpower your Dad.” _

_ “Even if you could, he’s immortal, I’d like to see anyone in your family be able to take him out.” _ Immortal, that was a whole new bag of trouble. Tim makes a mental note to go through every piece of collected data about every immortal being known.

_ “Dad would try.” _

_ “Y’know the more we talk about them the more they sound like they’re the same person.” _

_ “Not sure if that’s a good thing.” _

_ “Well think of it like this, I know for a fact if I think my Dad will do it, your Dad will probably do it.” _

_ “My Dad would take on an alien for the family.” _

_ “My Dad has taken on aliens.” _

_ “Yeah, they both sound pretty insane.” _

_ “At least yours isn’t literately.” _

_ “He has been.” _

Silence laps between them again for a short moment and the teasing tones between the two seem to have evaporated from existence when they finally find their words again.

_ “So, how is this going to work? Your Dad isn’t gonna just throw in the towel if he can’t catch me.” _

_ “I don’t know. I’ll figure something out.” _

_ “We’ll figure something out, this is our problem.” _

_ “I should’ve just told you in the first place… I guess I just-” _

“Tim?” Tim jumps in his chair and snaps out of his trance. He looks up quickly to see Damian standing beside him with an eyebrow raised.

“Do you mind? You gave me a fucking heart attack.” Tim sighs, clutching at his chest as he glares up at Damian. There’s still conversation happening and so he pulls the earpiece out and drops it onto the workbench beside the batarang and fiddles with it until he’s able to stop the recording from playing.

“Sorry, was just wondering what you’re up to. You’re not meant to be working hard.” Damian hums in a tone that sounds a little accusing like Tim was doing something wrong. Tim knows he’s only teasing but he still rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. He looks past Damian to make sure that they’re the only ones around still. Besides Bruce, it’s just them luckily because Tim hadn’t even thought for a second that Michael or Jason could come wandering in and nosy about in his business.

“I’m working my ass off as you can see.” Tim deadpans and Damian hums and leans against the bench, pointing to the batarang.

“What’s that for?”

“Recorded intel, seeing if it’s got anything about the whole potential Court activity that might be going on.” Tim shrugs his shoulder and turns back to facing the workbench.

“Anything?”

“Not yet. Not anything worth a dime yet anyway.” Tim scoops up the earpiece and works it back into his ear as he looks up to Damian through the corner of his eye.

“Okay I get it, I’ll get out of your hair.” Damian holds his hands up in mock defence and offers Tim a small smirk. “But you know you’re not the best liar right?”

Of course, Damian knew that wasn’t what this was. He probably caught Tim looking around for someone else, or even knew what was going on with Michael because he’s  _ Damian _ . Tim’s just glad he knows better than to get in the way of Tim’s work. Truth be told, he probably came over here to see if he could get the real answer and when Tim fed him lies he knew it was for a reason. He also knows that if Tim needs anyone for this, he’ll go to someone.

“I do try, I promise.”

“Try harder.” Damian hums before he turns and moves on, heading over to pester Bruce about what he’s doing instead. Tim turns back to the receiver and rewinds the audio until a little.

_ “I should’ve just told you in the first place… I guess I just thought if I ignored it that it’d go away.” _ Virus’s voice comes back through the receiver and Tim relaxes back into his chair.

_ “No use moping about what could’ve or should’ve been done. We have to worry about how we’re going to do to prevent our Dad’s from tearing each other apart.” _

_ “Let’s be real, we’re making sure my Dad doesn’t end up mounting your Dad’s head on a wall.” _

_ “Or my head.” _ Michael mumbles and again silence lapse between them. Tim can’t help but think that Virus’s voice sounds familiar. But then again it’s not like it’s a particularly unique voice. He could’ve walked past someone who was having a conversation and they might have had a similar sounding voice for all he knows.

_ “We could just, come clean about the truth?” _

_ “Let’s leave that as a last resort.” _

_ “Are you that worried about my Dad finding out about you?”  _ Virus snickers and there’s a ‘thumping’ sound that comes through the receiver which only makes Virus laugh more.

_ “No, I’m worried about Jason finding out about you! He might have Tim to ground him now but no matter what he’s never going to be okay with me running around with someone who’s one act of genocide away from being on Arkham’s wanted list!” _ Michael’s voice is raised but Tim’s brain is ticking over. So much for secret identities. And genocide, this Virus guy wasn’t on their side, just as Tim had thought but genocide was not what Tim had been thinking. It’s made worse when Virus laughs at the distress in Michael’s voice.

_ “Pretty sure I’m already on Arkham’s list, they just don’t know it yet.” _

_ “This isn’t funny, stop laughing you asshole.” _

_ “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” _

_ “No, you’re not.” _

_ “You’re just salty because you’re stuck on the good side.” _

_ “No. It’s easy to be a criminal, especially in this city.” _

_ “Ouch, my feelings.” _

_ “Hey, I’m not the one who chose to be a murderer.” _

_ “But that’s the thing, if you’d come into Jason’s life any earlier, you probably would be too.” _

_ “I know, and it scares me how easy it is to change that.” _

_ “Red Hood’s hands are already dirty, you’re not doing the name any justice, no matter what you think.” _

_ “I’m trying.” _

_ “It won’t be enough. Jason’s legacy is stained into that name, you can shake hands with Superman and kiss the cops asses every night for the rest of your life, the Red Hood is a murderer too.” _

The silence that follows after that makes Tim shift uncomfortably in his seat. It wasn’t true, it didn’t have to be true. Jason wasn’t a murderer and Michael never had to be.

_ “I’m not the Red Hood’s son, I’m Jason’s. And Jason isn’t a murderer, my life is proof of that. He could have walked away, he could have left me with them and done nothing. But he saved me, he’s done everything he can for me. And I will fight for the rest of my life to clear his name, even if it kills me.” _

_ “Wow. Even I wouldn’t go that far for my Dad and he’s biologically my father.” _

_ “You would. You just haven’t been pushed enough to see that in yourself yet.” _

_ “Also he can regenerate and all that so there’s no point in me taking bullets for him.” _

_ “But you would. Trust me, I’ve seen it. You’ll be surprised what people do when the situation is life or death.” _

_ “Maybe for the good guys. Hell, I don’t even know if Dad would take a bullet for me.” _

_ “I trust he would.” _

_ “Let’s just hope we never have to find out.” _ Virus clears his throat _. “So if we’re not going to come clean about this, what are we gonna do?” _

_ “I think I might actually have an idea. It’s a little crazy, but it just might work.” _

_ “I like the sound of that. Crazy can be good, just look at me.” _

_ “Yeah okay shut up.” _ Michael chuckles and there’s a pause in their conversation that doesn’t seem to fit. Tim frowns but keeps listening and after a moment Michael huffs.  _ “You really are in trouble.” _

_ “Nah, probably just wants me to help him take out some poor rich snob, let’s hope it’s not Wayne.” _

_ “That’s not funny.” _

_ “Relax, Bruce is too high up for our work. Promise.” _

_ “Good.” _

_ “I’ll see you tomorrow, we’ll talk about that plan of yours then.” _

_ “Sure, keep yourself out of trouble.” _

_ “Ha! You’re funny Todd.” _

_ “I know.” _

There’s a long pause of silence before the only thing Tim can hear is rustling and Tim can only assume they’ve parted ways. He skips forward in the recording until voices catch his attention again and he can hear Jason’s voice coming through the receiver, so he knows that it’s after Michael got back home. He sits back in his chair and lets out a deep sigh.

That was a lot. Maybe a little too much, this was serious. Maybe he’ll have to go to Jason about it. He looks over the batarang as he takes the earpiece out and decides he’s going to destroy it. But first, he connects it up to his phone and downloads the recording. He’ll transfer it to his suit’s data system later so that it’s in safekeeping for future reference. He wipes the memory data from the batarang so that it’s still operational, but the previous audio is deleted from its receiver.

Damian moves back over to him, obviously having noticed that he was finished. “Find what you were looking for?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“You look a little concerned, should I be?” Damian asks and Tim looks up to him and bites the inside of his cheek.

“Not yet. But uh, can you compile a file for me with all the known immortals from the databases and forward it to my laptop?” Tim asks, working his hands into the pockets of Jason’s -well Dick’s apparently- hoodie and steps around Damian.

“That sounds concerning.” Damian mumbles.

“Trust me, I’ll let you know if it gets to being a real concern.” Tim assures. Damian nods and steps back before he’s turning and heading over to most likely work on that list. Tim nibbles his bottom lip as he starts heading back up to the manor.

He doesn’t really know how to go about bringing this up to Jason. Maybe he’ll just let him listen to the recording and let it do all the talking for him. He feels like that might not be the best way to go about it though. Jason wasn’t always hot-headed, but that didn’t mean he didn’t let his anger get the better of him at times. Jason was pretty good at keeping his calm, but Tim knew from experience that toying with your own safety will make Jason lose it, which was understandable. Even though Tim’s in his own thoughts he ends up navigating toward the kitchen because in the back of his mind he hears voices coming from that direction. He steps in to see that Jason’s up, a cup of coffee between his palms and of course, no shirt on.

“It’s not like that Mikey, seriously-”

Tim stops dead in his tracks and his brain feels like it actually stops working for a moment. He turns his head to look for the source of the voice and sat at the table having a conversation with Jason is Michael and  _ Ben _ . Tim knew he recognised that voice, Virus’s voice,  _ Ben’s _ voice.

“Morning Babybird.” Jason hums and Tim snaps out of his trance and is probably too quick to turn his attention to Jason and throw on a smile. He just needed to calm down, everything was fine. There’s just a mass murderer sat at the table who’s Dad wants Jason  _ dead _ , no biggie.

“Hey, sorry I was down uh- I was with Damian.” Tim’s so thrown off that he nearly slipped up about the cave. Because even though despite the fact it was clear he knew who they were, new about what they did, that didn’t mean Tim should be blurting it out when Ben isn’t  _ supposed _ to know. Ben was Michael’s best friend, had been for almost as long as Michael has been Jason’s son. And Tim knows the kid isn’t set on the straightest path in life, what with being involved with drugs and everything but he never thought the kid could be capable of genocide. To be fair, one look at Jason these days and it’s hard to believe that he was once going down that path too.

“You better not have been working too much.” Jason mumbles and Tim can tell that he looks a little sceptical of him. He needs to recover from that. He tells himself to breathe and rolls his eyes at Jason’s comment.

“I wasn’t working at all.”

“Good. You’ve met Ben right?” Jason gestures across the room to the teens sat at the table like Tim could have missed them.

“At least once.” Tim shrugs and looks over to them and offers a quick, small smile. His eyes study Michael probably a little too long.

“We’ve had a very quick introduction, you’re a busy man. That’s what I’ve been led to believe.” Ben offers Tim a kind smile and something about it is so wrong to Tim.

“Undoubtedly,” Tim mumbles before he turns back to Jason. Now he didn’t know what to do with himself. He should just play it off, act normal and fine until he could get away instead of trying to think up a stupid excuse as to why he suddenly needs to be out of this room. This made things so much harder. He collects himself enough to step up to Jason’s side and turn back to the others. “You go to the same college.”

“Same course and everything. Though I’m the one who gets the higher grades.” Ben flaunts, looking to Michael with a wide grin across his face.

“Only because you’re an overachiever. An A is an A, okay?” Michael glares and Ben leans back in the chair and smirks.

“But a B is a B.”

“B plus. I get one fucking B plus.” Michael shakes his head and looks away from Ben. His eyes hover over Tim, long enough for Tim to realise that he’s trying to figure out if Tim knows. Tim tilts his head and raises his eyebrows a little. He wants Michael to know he knows. No point in hiding it because this was a serious problem.

“You’ll just have to live knowing that you’ll never be better than me.”

“Yeah well, you’ll never be a Wayne.” Michael sticks his tongue out and Ben nudges his shoulder.

“You’re not either.”

“Closer then you’ll ever be.”

“You have no idea how many chicks love him because he’s almost Bruce Wayne’s kid.” Ben chuckles and Michael rolls his eyes. “You can’t even date any of them because their divorced mothers will be trying their hardest to get in good ol’ grandaddy’s pants.”

“Okay, you need to stop.” Michael groans. “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

Ben looks back up to Jason and Tim and folds his hands behind his head. “Charming I know. I just tell it how it is.”

“Sometimes the truth is better left unsaid.” Tim mumbles and Michael spares a glance his way before he drops his head into his hands and lets out a sigh.

“I don’t even want you in this house anymore.”

“Well let’s get going so we can solve that problem.” Ben pats Michael’s shoulder before he stands up. He smiles at Tim and Jason and moves around the table and holds out his hand for Jason to shake. “Good seeing you again, I’ll keep him out of trouble.”

“I’ll be the one keeping you out of trouble.” Michael mumbles and Ben waves him off before he offers his hand to Tim. Tim tries not to show that he’s hesitant to return the gesture.

“Nice to sorta meet you again. Maybe one day we won’t meet in passing and we’ll have more than two lines of conversation together and I’ll be able to say that I’ve actually met the Tim Drake.” He offers Tim a wide, toothy smile and Tim swallows thickly and smiles back as convincingly as he can.

“Let’s hope.” Tim mumbles as they release each other’s hands. Never has Tim felt like a handshake was so dangerous. Michael ushers Ben from the room.

“I’ll be back in a few hours, definitely before dinner.” He calls back and Jason hums into his cup as he takes a drink of his coffee. Tim watches the two disappear out of view down the corridor before he lets himself start to internally freak out again. This was so not good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	29. Clucky

Tim decides that the best way for him to go about this, for the time being, is to not think about it at all. If he stresses himself out over it he’d probably end up making things worse. No matter how much he knew something needed to be done about it sooner rather than later he also knew that letting it fuck with his head wasn’t going to help.

“You okay?” Jason asks after too many minutes of silence go between them. Tim nods slowly, his eyes unfocused as he looks across the room at nothing. He was still stood next to Jason in the kitchen.

“I’ve just been thinking, um… do you wanna go out or something today?” Tim asks, blinking a few times to get the haze from his eyes before he looks up to Jason.

“Sure, what’d you have in mind?” Jason has a small smile on his face but Tim can tell there’s still a little bit of concern to his features. So long as he doesn’t ask and Tim doesn’t have to come up with some lame excuse, everything should be fine.

“Not really sure yet.”

“Have you already had breakfast?”

“Yeah. Not much though. I was sick when I woke up and I’m still feeling a little queasy now.” Tim says honestly. Usually, the nausea pills do a good job but this morning he wasn’t feeling the best, not at all helped by what he’d found out about Ben. Jason frowns and looks Tim over a little.

“Are you still hungry?”

“Uh… not really.” Tim shrugs. Jason steps forward and places his coffee on the table before he turns to Tim, reaching out to hold onto his hips, thumbs rubbing small circles into Tim’s sides.

“As in you’re too scared to eat more because you don’t want to be sick again or that being sick threw off your appetite?”

“A bit of both I guess.” Tim has to stop himself from shrugging again. Jason hums and steps closer to Tim. Tim raises an eyebrow when Jason doesn’t say anything for a while as he just stares at him. It shouldn’t be unsettling, Jason’s expression isn’t anything that should make Tim feel uncomfortable, and yet he can’t help but squirm under his gaze. “What?”

Jason doesn’t respond instantly. He leans in and presses a soft kiss to the corner of Tim’s mouth. He doesn’t pull away either, his lips hovering over Tim’s as his eyes dart around Tim’s face. Tim tries not to swallow audibly but it sounds deafening in his own head so he knows Jason probably heard it.

“What’s wrong?” Jason asks in a low voice. His breath fans over Tim’s face and usually it’d be a comforting feeling.

“You’re the one acting weird.” Tim mumbles and Jason pulls away enough that Tim feels like he doesn’t have to hold his breath anymore.

“You can lie to yourself all you want Tim, I know something’s bothering you.” Jason mumbles and Tim sighs and averts his eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Tim admits. Jason doesn’t respond and Tim can basically feel Jason’s gaze burning into his skin. It makes him fidget uncomfortably in Jason’s hold. It’s been a long time since he last felt this uncomfortable because of the way Jason was acting toward him.

“If I let this slide, you will talk to me about it tonight.” Jason mutters and Tim shakes his head lightly.

“I need some time Jay.”

“How much time?”

“I don’t know, just…” Tim sighs and pushes his way out of Jason’s grasp and takes a few steps away from him only to stop himself in his tracks. He wraps his arms around himself and averts his gaze to the floor. “I need time, this… it’s not good Jason.”

“It’s got something to do with Mike, doesn’t it?” Jason wants to move over to Tim again and get the younger to face him, but he keeps himself stood where he is.

“Yeah, sorta,” Tim admits, shrugging lightly. When Jason falls silent again Tim turns to look over to him. He’s looking at the floor with his bottom lip between his teeth and he’s gripping his own arms hard enough that his nails are digging into his skin. Tim moves in to take hold of his hands and pull them away from himself. “He’s going to be okay.”

“You said it wasn’t good.”

“It’s not… but I know he will be. I promise Jason. If I didn’t think he was going to be okay I wouldn’t be okay with it either.” Tim tries to assure. Did he really know that Michael was going to be fine? No. Not in the slightest. But he really needed to talk to Michael about this before he even thought about speaking to Jason about it. Jason still won’t look at him, and Tim could see the fear in his eyes. No matter what, Michael was his son and the thought of him getting hurt was a living nightmare for Jason. “He’s going to be okay, I’m not going to let anything happen to him.”

“What if something happens to you?” Jason asks in a low voice and Tim sighs and squeezes his hands.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, Jason. We’re going to be okay.”

“Why can’t you just tell me?” Jason pushes. Tim’s shoulders sag as he fumbles with Jason’s fingers for a moment. He reaches up and cups Jason’s cheek, brushing his thumb over his skin lightly.

“Because I don’t want to say anything just in case I’m wrong.” Tim’s running out of excuses. Jason doesn’t look like he’s convinced, but he lets out a soft sigh and turns his head into Tim’s hand and kisses his wrist.

“Okay.”

“I promise everything’s going to be fine.” Tim thought he was done with lies, especially done with lying to Jason. He hated the fact he knew he couldn’t tell Jason about this.

\- - -

They do end up going out for the day, but the air around them isn’t as calm and easy as it should be. Tim can’t exactly blame Jason for being tense and worried. As far as he knows, Michael could potentially be in some form of danger, which he was but Tim hadn’t wanted Jason to know about it at all yet. So the fact that Jason keeps looking over his shoulder and is too nervous about every sound that happens around them isn’t a surprise. Tim just keeps his hand in Jason’s the whole time, even as they get something to eat from a café. It’s the least he can do to try and make Jason feel better.

“Have you actually seen the work Bruce has been sending me? It’s almost insulting. I don’t think book work has ever bored me as much as it has the past few weeks. I mean honestly, he could’ve been sending me stuff that I was meant to be working on at the least, not fucking order forms to fill out for the offices.” Tim grumbles, swirling his iced chocolate around a little depressingly. Jason’s gaze is focused elsewhere as they meander around a little aimlessly.

“You shouldn’t be doing too much work anyway.”

“Okay yeah but Christ Jason, Roy could be doing the work Bruce has been giving me. It’s got nothing to do with anything important at all. The only thing I’ve been allowed to work on that’s worth a dime is that fucking Baxon bullshit and Damian’s been leaning over my shoulder every time I do anything with that.”

“Bruce is trying to make a point.” Jason couldn’t seem less interested even if he tried. Tim sighs and mumbles pathetically into his cup as he takes another sip of his drink. Jason hums like he was trying to get Tim to repeat himself but Tim doesn’t make an effort to continue that conversation.

They don’t say anything for a while and Tim’s attention is drawn toward a couple in the distance, a toddler awkwardly stumbling between them, one of its tiny hands clasped in its Dad’s hand. Tim swallows a little thickly, not even noticing that he was probably staring way too intently at a child. Good thing he was wearing sunglasses because that might not make it look so obvious to other people around them. But he couldn’t help it. He could hear the small excited sounds the toddler was making and the encouraging and cheerful tones in its parent's voices and… Tim snaps out of his daze and looks up to Jason through the corner of his eye.

“You okay?” Jason asks and Tim doesn’t know how long Jason’s been looking at him but he awkwardly turns his head away and nods. Jason gives his hand a small squeeze. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I just… that’s… that’s gonna be us.” He mumbles and Jason lifts his head and tries to follow Tim’s stare. It doesn’t take him long to realise he’s talking about the small family. Jason smiles to himself and looks back to Tim.

“Nervous?”

“A little.”

“Excited.” Jason hums knowingly and Tim nods.

“What about you?”

“Bit of both. Probably more nervous I’m gonna fuck up though.” He chuckles and a small smile works it’s way across Tim’s face as he looks back up to Jason.

“You’re not going to.”

“You sound pretty sure about that.” Jason is still looking over toward the family now and Tim has to tell himself he can’t look over there as well otherwise they’d both be creepily staring at a child. So this is what it felt like to be broody or clucky, whatever it was.

“I am sure.” Tim hums, tilting his head to lean it against Jason’s shoulder. He smiles softly to himself when he feels Jason press a kiss to the top of his hair.

“I think you’ll be better at it.”

“You’ve already got some practice.”

“Doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing.” Jason chuckles and Tim lifts his head to look up at Jason again.

“You’re an amazing dad Jason, seriously you are.” Tim assures and Jason cranes his neck back a little so he can look down at Tim with a small smile.

“And you’re going to be an amazing dad.” Jason leans in and presses a quick kiss to Tim’s lips. Tim smiles and rests his head against Jason’s shoulder again as he gives the older's hand another squeeze.

“You’ll have to show me the ropes.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.” Jason chuckles.

“Terrible ideas are your forte.” A voice suddenly speaks up from behind them and they both jump. Jason automatically grabs hold of Tim’s hips and turns him away from whoever it is, getting himself between the two. Wally smirks at them for their reaction and rests his hands on his hips.

“Do you mind?” Jason grumbles, causing both Tim and Wally to chuckle. He seems to cautiously let go of Tim’s hips, his hand finding Tim’s again to hold onto a little too tightly. He was still on edge, Tim could understand that, but he knew he didn’t have to worry about Wally.

“Not in the slightest.” Wally steps up to them and rests both his elbows on their shoulders as he gives them a wide smile. He’s the same height as Jason so he leans awkwardly more toward Tim due to the height difference.

“Aren’t you meant to be at work?” Jason asks, raising an eyebrow in question. Wally cockily shrugs.

“I’m on break.”

“You’re not meant to leave the site when you’re on break.” Tim shakes his head. “Even Bruce isn’t allowed to step foot out of the tower on his break if he ever took one.”

“I can be back there in two seconds flat, plus no one sees me leave.” Wally proudly states.

“What’re you doing out here anyway?” Tim asks and Wally gives him a sideways smile.

“We’ve got some birthday’s coming up, I’ve just been hunting around for some gifts.”

“While you’re meant to be at work?” Jason shakes his head with a chuckle. Wally shrugs and drops his arms off of their shoulders.

“I’ve got a lot of presents to hunt down. I mean apparently, everyone has to be born in November. Good thing this one doesn’t have a hope in being a November baby.” Wally smiles fondly.

“God, you’re nearly forty. You seriously need to get yourself married.” Tim chuckles, shaking his head slowly.

“Trust me, I’m trying. I keep telling Dick it doesn’t need to be big, I mean fuck man there’s no need to invite every superhero we’ve come in contact with, this family is big enough on its own. But you know what he’s like.”

“An overachiever?” Jason hums and Wally nods, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Exactly.”

“Maybe you should just remove him from the planning party altogether and sort it out with someone else.” Tim suggests a little teasingly.

“I’ve considered that more times then I’d like to admit.”

“So just do it. If he’s gonna make it difficult tell him he’s gonna have to put up with what you choose.” Jason throws in and Wally sighs and averts his gaze.

“If I’m honest, I think he’s scared.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t want all that attention on him, like he doesn’t want everyone to feel like they have to focus on just us, y’know? We’d been talking about it a lot the past few months and then y’know we found out you were pregnant and now he’s saying that we shouldn’t be focusing on it because it’ll take attention away from you.” Wally shrugs and Tim rolls his eyes.

“I’m gonna bash his head in, that’s just ridiculous.” Tim shakes his head and looks Wally over. They’d dragged this out long enough and now that Tim wasn’t working he was going to damn well organise this wedding on his own if he had to.

“That’s just the way Dick’s always been though. He doesn’t want to be in the spotlight even when it’s all about him.” Wally starts playing with his own fingers out of habit.

“You know why though.” Jason mumbles and Wally nods. The last time the spotlight was on Dick, he was a nine-year-old kid watching on in horror as his parents fell to their deaths. Of course, he doesn’t want to be in the spotlight.

“I think you and I need to have a long talk with him.” Tim mumbles and Wally tilts his head and smiles a little sadly.

“Yeah.” He agrees. Jason reaches up and runs his fingers through Wally’s hair, ruffling it up a little.

“You’ll be ‘right buddy.”

“I promise, you’ll be married before the end of next year.” Tim states like he knows for sure it’s going to happen.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Wally warns, raising an eyebrow like it was a challenge he was expecting Tim to back down from.

“Good, because I’m going to make sure it happens.” Tim assures and Jason chuckles.

“You know he’s being serious.”

“Maybe I’ll buy Dick a suit for his birthday and he’ll get the memo.” Wally snickers.

“Like Dick needs another suit.” Tim rolls his eyes and Wally shrugs.

“Hey man, I’m trying.”

“Don’t worry your little head over it. I’ll handle Richard.”

“I’m counting on it.” Wally smirks. At least now Tim actually had something he could work on that Bruce couldn’t try and monitor while he’s out of the office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	30. Detectives

It’s close to being three in the afternoon when Jason and Tim finally find their way back to the manor. Once Wally had made the choice to return back to work before he got himself in trouble the two had headed off to a nearby park. They’d sat under a tree where Tim leant his head on Jason’s shoulder and had a quick power nap for a few minutes. When he wasn’t napping he was trying not to weirdly watch the few kids that were running around with their parents. He didn’t feel too bad about it when Jason had nudged him and pointed out a women carrying probably the smallest baby Tim had ever seen, letting Tim know Jason was doing the same thing. It sounded creepy, but they couldn’t help themselves. Now that they were home Tim didn’t know what to do with himself. Jason was down in the cave, doing what he does and Tim was sat at the table with his laptop opened in front of him. It wasn’t even turned on and he stared blankly at his reflection in the black screen.

“Tim?” He blinks the haze out of his eyes and looks up to see Damian walking into the kitchen with a small frown on his face.

“Hey,” Tim mumbles and looks back to his laptop, trying to decide if he should find something for himself to do.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah… no. No, I… I’ve bitten off more than I can chew this time.” Tim sighs and Dami clicks his tongue and comes to stand beside Tim, leaning his back against the chair beside him.

“Not the first time, so what’s different about this?” Damian’s tone is a little light, in a way that he was clearly trying to make Tim feel more comfortable around him. Despite everything, Damian still wasn’t a ‘people’ person. He was trying though, and Tim couldn’t help but smile every time he awkwardly tried to appeal to people.

“This could fuck up a lot of things and I have no idea how to go about it.” Tim sighs, running his fingers over some of the keys on his laptop. The scratching sound shouldn’t be any form of calming, but maybe any distraction is good enough at this moment. Damian pulls the chair out beside Tim and sits himself down, his attention on his own hands.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Damian asks lowly and Tim nods.

“Yeah actually… I don’t think I can sort this out myself.”

“I can go-”

“No. Not Jason.” Tim cuts in and Damian seems a little thrown off by it. Tim sighs and turns to look up to him. “And not here where he could hear about it either.”

“Is it… why not?”

“It’s about Michael.” Tim bites his bottom lip and closes his laptop. He makes a vague motion, tilting his head a little as he gets up and starts to walk off. Damian’s quick to get up and follow after him. “Is Jay still in the cave?”

“Last I knew.” Damian mumbles and Tim nods and heads straight upstairs. He doesn’t even hesitate to head on down to Damian’s room. He hasn’t really seen it in a while, they don’t have needs to be fumbling around in each other’s rooms much.

It’s pretty bland if Tim’s honest. Beside his bed, desk and walls full of bookshelves, his room isn’t much of a room. Titus’s bed is still under the window from where it’s been for years. Damian’s always turned down the idea of getting another dog, saying he doesn’t have the time for one at the moment. Tim knows that it’s the thought of replacing Titus with another dog that Damian hates the most. Titus had been one of those ‘one of a kind’ sort of dogs that you remember for the rest of your life.

Losing a dog like that really is like losing a family member and even Damian who was almost twenty-two at the time had held onto Titus and cried for nearly fifteen minutes when the vet said the best thing for him was to put him to rest. It hadn’t hit home how much the dog had meant to Damian until that moment. Nothing could replace Titus, even six years later Damian didn’t want anyone to get a dog that would be living in the manor. Cats were allowed, though Damian hasn’t gotten another for a few years.

“It wouldn’t hurt to personalize your room a little.” Tim mumbles and Damian shrugs, looking around at the plain walls.

“Pretty sure the remaining walls will get filled with books too one day.” He shrugs and Tim chuckles.

“No one reads as much as you do.”

“I’m aware.” Damian hums and sits on the edge of his bed. Tim sits at Damian’s desk, trying not to get too curious about the small pile of papers at the edge of it. Everything was so neat in Damian’s room, it was kind of unsettling. Tim sets his laptop down on the desk and turns in the computer chair to look over to Damian. He sighs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“You already know this but, this morning I wasn’t looking into shit for the whole Court bullshit that might be going on. This was definitely more important, and you might disagree but whatever.”

“I trust your judgement.” Damian offers and Tim cracks a small smile at that.

“Thanks.” He sits up and sucks in a deep breath. “God, where do I start? Okay… So the other night while Mike and I were doing some recon we overheard talk about some guy calling himself ‘Virus’. It wasn’t much but it caught Michael’s interest, so I got digging and nothing.”

“Nothing came up?” Damian leans forward himself and Tim could see that he was interested in this too.

“Nothing, to the point that I thought maybe it  _ was _ nothing. But you know me, I don’t give up so easily. So, I followed Mike out last night and he met up with the guy. He was wearing a red and black kind of suit and I tried getting close enough to listen in, but it didn’t happen. I tried using an audio receiver, but I guess Michael knew that I’d be trying to get information or something. He disabled the receiver, well the link anyway. Bruce isn’t one to make his toys easy to mess with. It recorded everything.” Tim fishes around in his pocket for his phone.

“And that’s what you were really listening to this morning,” Damian confirms and Tim nods as he opens up the recording.

“Sound familiar?” He asks as he holds it up for Damian to listen to.

_ “What is it exactly?” _

_ “Audio receiver.” _

_ “Should we be worried?” _

_ “I’ve disabled it.” _

_ “But someone’s on to you.” _

“Ben?” Damian looks up at Tim with a frown and Tim nods. “Ben is this Virus character?”

“Yeah and I mean that wouldn’t be a problem if Michael didn’t lie and say he was on our side.”

“What do you mean?” Maybe Damian is in denial like Tim was and doesn’t want to think that Michael would get himself involved in things like this, but it’s not like all of their hands are clean.

“Ben’s dad has history with Jason, with Red Hood, and not anything good by the sound of it. From what I’ve got, Jason got in the way of Ben’s dad’s operations and now, he’s out for revenge. Only problem is, Jason isn’t Red Hood anymore. Ben doesn’t want to hurt Michael, at least that’s what he said, but his dad is out for the Hood, to put it to an end.”

“Okay this doesn’t seem like much of a problem yet, so what’s the catch.”

“Ben’s dad is immortal which is why I wanted you to look into it for me.” Tim sighs and pulls his feet up onto the chair and hugs his legs to his chest. “Oh yeah, and Ben’s a killer, he helps his dad out in fucking genocide, and Michael’s protecting him. So yeah, it’s pretty serious Damian and I have no idea what to do.” Tim grips his hair and makes a small pathetic sound when he tugs on the strands. His hands were starting to shake because saying it out loud made it so much more real.

“First things first, you need to breathe. Freaking out isn’t going to help. I get where you’re coming from but we know Ben, he’s-”

“He’s the one person who sounds like he’s going to be a hand in putting Jason back in his grave. This is serious Damian! He’s in our home, he knows who we are. How do we know he’s not just playing Michael?”

“They’ve been friends since day one Tim, there’s no way this guy knows that Jason was Red Hood, if he did Jason would be dead already. I believe that Ben doesn’t want anything bad to happen to Michael.”

“How can you be sure? God, wouldn’t having your kid get close to your enemies kid be the easiest way to get information?”

“Why blow your cover then?” Damian asks. Tim goes to answer but falls short. “If Ben was just a reason to get info, why would he tell Michael anything?” Still, Tim has nothing to say to that.

“This is serious, I know that and the longer we just think about it the worse things will get. If Ben’s dad is after Red Hood, who knows when he’ll attack.” Damian gets up and gestures for Tim to shift over. “I downloaded the files onto my computer, I thought maybe you wouldn’t want Father knowing about this.”

“I’m more worried about Jason finding out.”

“Why?” Damian spares him a glance but otherwise keeps working on getting the files loaded up.

“Because Jason’s unpredictable. Who knows what he’ll do when he finds out people are out for his head. And if he finds out someone’s hunting down the Hood he won’t forgive himself for putting Michael in danger.” Tim mumbles, keeping his gaze downward. Damian lets out a small sigh and rests his hand on Tim’s shoulder.

“We’ll figure this out.”

“God, I hope so.”

“Okay so…” Damian clicks his tongue. “We don’t have anything on Ben, we didn’t think we’d need it. You realise what you were asking right? There’s so many known immortals out there and a lot that are suspected.”

“I know, the process of elimination is going to be our best friend.” Tim sits up and leans on the desk. “If we know they have no ties with Ben, scratch them straight away. We’re looking for a male, all females can get scratched…”

Damian starts to work on removing the names they know they won’t need. But there’s probably at the least a thousand names on the list. Tim taps his fingers lightly against the desktop and thinks for a moment. “What’s Ben’s last name?”

“I believe it’s Wilson.” Damian mumbles and Tim rolls his eyes.

“How original. Okay so how many Wilson’s show up on the list?”

“Enough.” Damian mumbles. “The problem is we might not know him by name, and worst case we don’t have him in the system. Or he is but not under an immortal because we didn’t know.”

The thought of it all was starting to do Tim’s head in. He rubs at his temples and thinks long and hard. “We’re gonna need some DNA.”

“I’ve got a better idea. You, me, Michael and one long conversation.” Damian proposes.

“What if he refuses to talk?” Tim grumbles into his hands.

“Threaten to tell Jason.” Damian shrugs and Tim looks up to him. He looked serious and Tim’s shoulders sag.

“Damian I don’t really want Michael to hate me.”

“He won’t and this is what he gets for trying to protect the enemy.” Damian stands up straight and crosses his arms over his chest.

“…what if the threat doesn’t work?”

“Then we get some DNA, and maybe even Ben himself.”

“This isn’t going to be fun.”

“Oh yes, it is.” Damian smirks wide and Tim shakes his head. Some things will  _ never _ change.

“Plan?”

“I’ll worry about that, after all, you’re not meant to be working hard.” Damian hums and Tim glares up at him.

“This is serious Damian.”

“I know it is, but honestly, if you weren’t the one who initiated this, I would be getting Dick to help me out and not you.”

“Are you serious? You’d sideline me?” Tim grits his teeth and pushes himself up out of the chair. Damian holds his hands up like he was surrendering.

“Tim, this isn’t just some investigation that’s going to be a walk in the park. And if this starts heading toward looking like it’s going to get physical, yes I will sideline you and I will get Dick  _ and _ Jason in on it and we’ll take this into our own hands. I’m not letting you near this if it gets to that point.”

“You can’t-”

“To hell, I can’t!” Damian snaps and Tim recoils a little. “If this gets any more serious, you’re  _ out _ . The worse this gets the higher the chance of you getting in danger and I’ll take the brunt of it before I let you risk your baby’s life.”

Tim doesn’t know what to say to that. He just stares dumbly at Damian, his mouth falling open and closed like a fish. Damian’s shoulders are tense and his hands are balled into tight fists at his sides. He closes his eyes and takes in a shaky breath as he turns his head away from Tim.

“You think this is nothing, that you being pregnant is just a big ‘whatever’, but it isn’t Tim. You’re the one person in this family I’d be okay with calling my brother without feeling like I was forcing it just because Father took you in, and you’re the one person who’s furthest from being my brother. But even without that, you’re part of this family, your baby is part of this family. And I don’t care if you have them call me their uncle or not, I don’t care that you’re  _ not _ my brother, I am going to treat them like they’re blood.”

“Dami…” Tim falls short, choking on his own words because that was probably the most reassuring thing he could ever hear from Damian.

“Yeah I know, that means so much to you, or whatever. It’s true.” Damian looks back to Tim and sighs as he hugs himself. Everyone did it, but Damian only did it when he felt like he was out of place, in times when he doubted himself or didn’t know how to react to whatever it was he was feeling. “You’re first priority right now,  _ they’re _ first priority.”

Tim still doesn’t know what to say and so he does the only thing he knows he can and steps up to Damian, pulling him into his arms. Damian hugs him back just as tightly and Tim has to tell himself that he can’t nuzzle into Damian like he would Jason, that he probably shouldn’t let himself cry right now. But when Damian’s grip softens and his hand finds its way into Tim’s hair, Tim struggles to stop himself from sobbing pathetically. No matter how far the two of them had come in terms of their relationship it was always too much when Damian let himself get this vulnerable around Tim.

“You’re important, and not just to Jason either.” Damian mumbles and Tim chuckles lightly, pulling away enough to look up at him. He hates that his eyes are filled with tears, blurring his vision a little and he tries to blink the wetness away.

“You’re such a sap.” Tim huffs and Damian offers him a soft smile as he pushes Tim’s hair back from his face.

“I’m not the one on the verge of tears Drake.”

“Yeah well, it’s your fault, Wayne.” Tim bows his head and sniffles, wiping at his eyes. Stupid emotions, stupid Damian.

“Well, I mean it.” Damian shrugs light heartedly and Tim looks back up to him and gives him a crooked smile.

“I know you do.”

Damian returns Tim’s smile and pulls him back in for a hug, resting his head on the top of Tim’s as he rubs Tim’s back lightly. Tim closes his eyes and lets the feeling of Damian’s arms around him consume his thoughts. Every hug was always different, every person felt different. Jason was a constant air of what love is meant to feel like. Bruce was the greatest feeling of safe any hug could ever have. Dick always gave hugs Tim didn’t even know he needed, hugs that made him feel strong and weak all at the same time, enough to make him feel like him could take on the world. Damian’s hugs were the right mix of calm and soft to make him feel like he  _ was _ important. Damian’s hugs said all the words he needed to say, all the words he’d eventually find.

“I’m sorry I yelled,” Damian mumbles like he’s embarrassed. Tim shakes his head and smiles to himself.

“It’s okay, I get it.”

“Do you really? Because you keep acting like you don’t care.” Damian pulls back again. Tim sighs and grips his own arm as he averts his eyes.

“I do. I’m just not used to letting everyone else put me first.” Tim admits and Damian clicks his tongue and looks away too.

“Robins are pretty bad when it comes to that sort of thing.”

“You’re telling me.” Tim chuckles and Damian’s mouth turns up into a lopsided smile.

“It’s how we’re trained.”

“Yeah.” Tim bites his bottom lip and looks back up to Damian and crosses his arms over his chest. “Back to the topic at hand; you’re gonna tell me this plan of yours once you’ve figured it out right?”

“I will.” Damian turns back to Tim as well and maybe now they were standing a little too close to each other but neither of them mind. Well, maybe Tim minded a little because everyone in this house was taller than him and he was tired of having to look up at everyone. Especially when he stood close to people.

“Good.” Tim nods firmly to himself.

“Only if you promise not to let yourself worry about it too much.”

“Fine. But you better have a good plan otherwise I’ll throw you out a window.” Tim narrows his eyes a little and Damian’s smirk returns to his face.

“I’ll catch myself.” Damian crosses his arms as well and Tim rolls his eyes at the cockiness in his tone.

“I know you will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	31. Breaking news!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I forgot yesterday was Friday because I've spent the last week playing Fortnite because I have no life, the loser that I am D:

Wednesday morning, and again Tim finds himself hunched over the toilet throwing up his guts. He keeps telling himself that nothing will suck more than having to go through this almost every morning, but he knows that the worst of it is yet to come. The thought makes it seem so much worse. Jason plods into the bathroom, mumbling something sleepily that Tim misses completely because he’s gagging loudly into the bowel. Jason sits himself down on the edge of the bath and rests his hand on Tim’s shoulder blades. He rubs small circles into the muscle as he rests his head in his other hand. Tim spares him a sideways glance, his face paler than Jason’s ever seen him and his eyes watery. Jason tries for a tired smile, but it doesn’t last long when Tim’s body convulses forward again. Tim squeezes his eyes shut and curses under his breath because now it was starting to burn his throat. Jason’s hand moves up to lightly run through his sweaty hair.

Tim doesn’t get much time to enjoy the relaxing feeling before Jason’s pulling away and getting himself up again. Tim doesn’t pay him any mind and tries to will his body to calm down. In the back of his mind, he hears the sound of running water, but he doesn’t take it in. The next thing he knows there’s a wet and cold, so cold, flannel being run over the back of his neck. His body shivers, but he doesn’t comment on it and lets out a soft sigh when Jason presses it lightly to his forehead for a moment before he returns it to the back of Tim’s neck.

After a minute Jason removes it from Tim’s skin and takes it back over to the basin to soak it in cold water again. Tim spits into the toilet and cautiously sits himself up more. When his gut doesn’t instantly churn, he reaches up to flush the toilet, snuffling loudly. Jason lets out a small sound and sits on the floor with his bare back pressed to the bath, which makes him grit his teeth at the feeling of the cold tiles. He presses the flannel back to Tim’s forehead and Tim tries to give him a small smile. He slowly shifts and sits between Jason’s legs, leaning back against his chest as Jason runs the flannel over his neck again.

“Morning.” Jason mumbles and Tim huffs out a slight chuckle, which makes his throat burn even more.

“Hey. Thanks for that.” Tim’s voice is gruff and his eyes fall closed as he relaxes back against Jason’s body.

“Anytime Babybird.” Jason yawns and his other hand comes to rest on Tim’s belly. “You need to stop giving your dad trouble before he decides he’s going to get rid of you.”

“Don’t say that.” Tim shakes his head and reaches back to tangle his fingers in Jason’s hair.

“I’m trying to help here.”

“Empty threats are not the way to go.” Tim turns his head enough to look up to Jason as best he can. His eyes dart down to Jason’s lips for a second and Jason smirks lightly.

“You are not kissing me after that.”

“I know.” Tim pouts. Jason does tilt his head in enough to press a quick kiss to the bridge of Tim’s nose though, which earns him a tired smile from Tim.

“Sorry I can’t do more for you.” Jason mumbles as he drops the flannel onto the floor beside them now that it had warmed up again. Tim shifts carefully, trying not to stir up his gut again and curls into Jason sideways.

“You’re doing the best you can, the most you can, that’s all I can ask for.” Tim presses a light kiss to the base of Jason’s neck. Jason’s hand finds its way back into Tim’s hair and slowly strokes over his scalp.

“I know, I just wish there was more I could do.” Jason whispers against Tim’s forehead, nuzzling into him lightly.

“You’re doing more than enough Jason.” Tim assures. Jason hums and runs his hand lightly down Tim’s spine, fingers dancing over covered skin. Tim smiles softly to himself and in return draws small patterns over Jason’s bare chest. They stay sat there for a good few minutes before there’s a somewhat timid knock on the door. Tim rolls his head back against Jason’s shoulder and makes a low sound.

“Yeah?” Jason calls out, running his hand back up to rest against the back of Tim’s neck.

“I’m gonna presume Tim’s in there with you.” Damian’s voice comes through the door and Jason smirks softly to himself.

“Yeah, you can come in.”

“If that’s an invitation I’m going to have to decline.” Tim can hear the edge of a chuckle on Damian’s tone and it makes him smile softly to himself.

“Har har.” Jason rolls his eyes and gives Damian a flat look when he cautiously opens the door.

“God, you look like shit.” He comments and Tim closes his eyes again and gives Damian a thumbs up.

“Thanks.”

“You okay?”

“You could say that, what’d you need?” Tim goes to sit himself up more but decides he enjoys resting against Jason far more and stays leaning against him instead.

“Well, I was able to dig up that information you needed so I thought we could look into that over brunch. If you’re feeling up to it.” Tim hadn’t asked Damian to dig up anything and so there’s a moment of confusion. Tim frowns up and him and Damian just gives him a lopsided smile. It clicks in Tim’s mind then. Damian was talking about the whole Virus situation, god his brain was slow.

“I’m gonna need a shower first.” Tim mumbles and Damian nods in understanding.

“Naturally.” He averts his gaze to Jason and Tim doesn’t miss the way he smirks and raises his eyebrows for a split second. And he definitely doesn’t miss the feeling of Jason chuckling as his chest vibrates against Tim’s palm. Tim pushes himself away from Jason’s body and holds his arm up.

“Help me up.”

Damian rolls his eyes but steps in and takes Tim’s hand in his own. Tim mentally apologises for how clammy his palm is and slowly gets himself to his feet. Damian seems cautious in helping hoist him up and once Tim’s stood his hands come to rest lightly on his hips. “You good?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Tim nods, sucking in a deep breath and screws his face up at the potent taste of bile on his tongue. Jason groans and gets himself up as well and it’s like he has to have contact with Tim because his hand comes to rest against the small of Tim’s back. Damian looks Tim over for a second before he steps away.

“I’ll be in my room when you’re ready.” He offers Tim a soft smile and Tim nods. With that he turns and slips out of the room, closing the door behind him. Jason smirks and turns Tim in his arms so the younger is facing him.

“I knew that you two were closer now but I didn’t realise you were  _ that _ close.” Jason’s smirk was so lopsided Tim can’t help the mental image of it actually falling off his face. He rolls his eyes and lightly shoves at Jason’s chest.

“Whatever you’re trying to imply you can shove it right up your ass.” Tim huffs, stepping out of Jason’s hold so he can get his clothes off.

“Don’t play dumb.”

“I’m not, there’s nothing between me and Damian, Jay.” Tim gives him a flat look and Jason holds his hands up in surrender.

“The way he looks at you says otherwise.” Jason shrugs and Tim shuffles past him and opens up the shower door.

“What’re you talking about?” He looks over his shoulder to Jason as he starts up the water.

“I know that look because it’s the way I look at you.” Jason steps back up to Tim and grabs his chin between his thumb and finger. Tim tries to ignore it, and luckily it’s hard for him to think about Damian right now when Jason’s inches away from him half-naked and he’s completely naked himself.

“If there is any… attraction, I don’t know anything about it.” Tim shrugs and Jason smirks, leaning in to press a kiss to Tim’s cheek.

“If you say so.”

“You gonna wash my hair or should I ask Dami to come back and do it?” Tim raises his eyebrows, asking it in a teasing tone. Jason chuckles, running his tongue over the edges of his teeth, catching Tim’s attention. He really needs to not be doing stuff like that right now.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?”

“It’ll be pretty hard for you to fuck me if Damian was in here too.” Tim shrugs as he pulls back and steps into the water with a smirk of his own. Jason doesn’t take his eyes off Tim as he works off his own pants and underwear and follows Tim in.

“We’d make it work.”

“I don’t think there’s another person on this planet that’s as gay as you.” Tim shakes his head before he turns away from Jason and -not at all sexily- gargles some water to try and get rid of the taste in his mouth. Jason steps up against his back and takes hold of Tim’s hips as he leans in to press a kiss beside the bullet wound in Tim’s shoulder.

“I’ll take it.” Jason hums, pressing another kiss to Tim’s neck before he pulls away enough to reach up and run his fingers through Tim’s hair. Tim smiles to himself and closes his eyes, tipping his head back slightly as Jason’s fingers massage his scalp. It only takes a moment before Jason’s pulling away to get the shampoo and massage that through. “You know, I’ve noticed something.”

“Hmm, what’s that?” Tim asks, his eyes still closed and standing completely still so Jason can do his job.

“Your hair has been in need of washing more frequently then I recall.” Jason smirks knowingly and Tim chuckles softly. “You know you can just ask if you want me to give you a massage.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Todd.” Tim hums, relaxing further into the feeling of Jason’s fingers in his hair.

“Of course not.”

“Truth is, my arms get tried reaching up to wash it myself.” Tim mumbles and Jason laughs.

“Seriously?”

“That’s one of the reasons, yeah.” Tim chuckles. They fall silent as Jason finishes washing Tim’s hair. The feeling is relaxing enough that Tim feels like he could fall asleep where he’s standing. But that feeling doesn’t last long when he feels Jason’s hands slowly, teasingly, running down his back. He smirks to himself and turns his head to look over his shoulder. He wasn’t expecting Jason to be staring back at him with a soft smile as his hands slide lower.

“Hoping you’re going to keep to your promise and let me fuck you.” Jason mumbles in a low voice and Tim bites his bottom lip and pushes himself back against Jason a little.

“I’m only a little surprised you got through washing my hair before you tried to initiate that.” Tim hums and Jason grabs hold of his hips and pulls him back against his own body. Tim smirks at the feeling of Jason’s cock against his ass and turns his head back further as he grabs the back of Jason’s hair and pulls him in for a rough kiss. He hopes his breath isn’t too bad. If it is, Jason doesn’t let it faze him and kisses back with the same roughness as he slowly rocks his hips against Tim’s.

“Your hair was pretty bad baby.” Jason shrugs.

“Thanks.” Tim rolls his eyes and before he can try to go back in for another kiss Jason grabs hold of his hair and pushes him forward. Tim mutters a low ‘fuck’ under his breath at the slight roughness to it as he braces his hands against the shower wall and looks back over his shoulder to Jason as his hand runs down his spine again before he grabs his ass hard in both of his hands.

“Always look so good like this.” Jason comments and Tim sucks his lip into his mouth and bites down on it hard enough to potentially bruise. He watches as Jason brings one of his hands up and sucks on one of his fingers long and hard. He can’t help but whimper lowly as he watches Jason move it back down to his ass. Jason averts his eyes to look up at Tim, a smirk working across his face as he teases Tim’s rim with the digit. Tim squirms back against the feeling as they lock eyes and his hands try to grip uselessly at the wall.

“Jay please.” Tim mumbles and Jason smirks.

“Why the rush Babybird, Dami gonna get jealous?” Jason chuckles and Tim turns away from looking at Jason and sighs.

“Don’t.”

“Hey, I’m joking baby.” Jason assures, moving his hand to Tim’s hip as he leans in and kisses across Tim’s back.

“Just fuck me, Jason.”

“Romance is so dead in this family.” Jason shakes his head but slowly works his finger into Tim all the same. Tim’s mouth falls open in a silent moan before he looks back over his shoulder again.

“You took it with you to the grave.” Tim huffs and Jason smirks as he runs his hand over Tim’s lower back and over his ass, gripping at his cheeks roughly.

“Pity, we had so much potential.” He hums before he pulls his hand back and brings it down against Tim’s ass, not too hard but hard enough to make Tim jolt away from it and cry out in surprise. Jason instantly rubs at the area and Tim doesn’t need to look back to know that Jason’s smirking wide.

“Jay…” Tim pants, screwing his eyes shut as he rests his forehead against the wall, rocking his hips back against Jason’s hands.

“Something you want baby?” Jason asks in a dismissive tone. Tim turns his head enough to spare Jason a glance as he takes hold of his own cock and slowly strokes himself. Jason looks up to Tim and raises an eyebrow, but Tim doesn’t respond. He’s too busy watching the water from the shower run down Jason’s chest, following the lines of his muscles like little rivers in his skin. Jason smirks and curls his finger up inside Tim as he slowly works in a second one. Tim moans, pushing himself up on his toes as he turns his head back against the wall.

“You take them so well.” Jason’s tone makes it sound like he’s amazed by the fact like he hasn’t been sleeping with Tim for almost two months now.

“Good thing I’m not as tight as Roy, hey?” Tim looks back over his shoulder and tries to give Jason a smug smile but Jason’s spreading his fingers open and it makes Tim moan again.

“Mm, could slide right in if I wanted to.” Jason purrs and Tim bows his head against the wall and bites his bottom lip at the thought.

“Then why don’t you?” He mumbles. Jason’s hold on Tim’s hip loosens enough to catch Tim’s attention and he lifts his head again to look back at Jason. And his eyes say it all.

“You know I won’t.”

“Jason I’ll be fine.” Tim mumbles and Jason shakes his head pressing his fingers in deeper. Jason runs his hand up Tim’s side and around Tim’s front, pulling him back by his neck until Tim’s stood pressed up against him again. He turns Tim’s head to the side and holds his jaw in a firm grip.

“You know I’m not going to do it so why do you keep trying to tell me to?” Jason’s lips brush against the side of Tim’s neck as he speaks, and Tim’s eyes roll closed at the tingling sensation it sends through his body.

“Maybe one day you’ll change your mind.” Tim mumbles and Jason makes a weird sound in response.

“Not gonna happen Timbers.” He sucks on Tim’s earlobe, grazing his teeth against the skin as the movement of his fingers speeds up.

“I can always try.” Tim groans. He tries to move his hips back against Jason’s hand, but it’s an awkward angle since Jason has him pressed hard against his body and so he can’t move too much. Jason keeps sucking on Tim’s ear in between biting at his neck, driving Tim crazy from the sensation. “Kiss me.”

Jason chuckles lightly and turns Tim’s head a little more and happily complies. It’s an awkward angle because Tim can’t twist his head around enough to properly kiss Jason, but that doesn’t stop them. Tim decides to get some revenge for Jason spanking him earlier and bites hard into Jason’s bottom lip, enough for it to make Jason groan and he won’t be surprised if Jason’s lip is swollen from the bruising later. Jason just tightens his grip on Tim’s jaw and fucks his fingers harder into Tim’s hole.

“Someone’s feisty today.” Jason hums and Tim bites his own lip and pushes himself back against Jason more.

“Yeah well, your daughter hasn’t been the best to me this morning.” Tim mumbles and Jason pauses, his chest feeling tight as he stares back at Tim. Tim looks back up to Jason feeling that he’s stopped and gives him a questioning look. “What?”

“You… you realise what you just said right?” Jason asks and Tim looks away, his face heating up.

“Well, yeah…” He mumbles lowly and Jason pulls back and turns Tim around to face him. Jason’s smile is soft and sweeter then what Tim was expecting, especially since where this had been leading to. He hadn’t really meant to say what he had, not that he regretted it, but it had sort of slipped out. Jason’s looking Tim over with his bottom lip between his teeth, but his smile is still there and Tim has the slight urge to escape from his gaze.

“God, you’re incredible.” Jason suddenly whispers and Tim quickly looks away in embarrassment. It doesn’t matter though because Jason grabs hold of his chin again and forces him to face him. In the same beat, Jason leans in and steals a rough kiss, pushing Tim harder against the shower wall. Tim whimpers and moans into the kiss, his hands gripping Jason’s arms in vice grips like he didn’t know what to do with himself. And then Jason is grabbing hold of him under his thighs and hoisting him up, sliding his back up the wall as he pushes himself forward and against Tim, supporting his weight in his arms and on his pelvis.

“You’re heavier than the last time we did this.” Jason grunts, chuckling lightly afterwards and Tim huffs with a pout as he instinctively wraps his arms around Jason’s neck.

“I wasn’t carrying a baby last time we did this.” Tim grumbles, only a little offended.

“Actually, you could have been.” Jason points out, leaning in to nuzzle his nose against Tim’s. Tim bites his bottom lip and tangles his fingers in the ends of Jason’s wet hair.

“Yeah well, you know what I mean.” Tim wraps his legs around Jason’s waist and tilts his head back as Jason’s mouth latches onto the skin over his collarbone. A shiver runs through Tim’s body, a combination of the feeling of Jason against him with the feeling of being a little cold now that Jason’s body was blocking the spray of the shower.

“I think I fall in love with you a little more every day.” Jason mumbles and Tim’s heart feels like it beats unevenly at the statement. Tim leans in and nuzzles against Jason a little before he tilts his head and kisses him again. When he pulls back again he smirks softly at Jason.

“I think I’d love you more if you weren’t teasing me right now.” Tim hums and Jason returns his smirk and shifts Tim’s weight to one of his arms. Tim bites his bottom lip and averts his eyes down his body. He feels Jason’s knuckles brush against his lower back as Jason strokes himself a few times before Jason pulls his hips back and lines up his cock. Tim’s nails lightly dig into Jason’s shoulders with the building anticipation. Jason pauses for a moment, enough to make Tim whine because he’s  _ done _ with being teased and it must have been what Jason had wanted because he instantly pushes forward.

Tim tips his head back against the wall again, swallowing down his sounds as Jason’s cock slides inside. There’s a slight burn, nothing he can’t handle and definitely not the worst he’s had but it does make him squirm against Jason a little. Jason adjusts the way he’s holding Tim, pulling him back against his body more so that mostly Tim’s shoulder blades are being pushed back into the wall as Jason works his hands under Tim’s body to hold him up. It’s sort of an awkward angle to be in, but it felt amazing last time, so Tim isn’t about to complain. Jason takes a moment to shift and get a proper stance before he slowly starts to rock his hips into Tim.

Tim licks his lips and grips Jason’s shoulders harder as he’s pulled back against the other roughly. He tries not to squeeze his legs around Jason’s waist too tight and prevent Jason from being able to move properly but the want to feel as close to Jason as physically possible is making it hard to suppress the urge. There’s a small sting in his back from Jason’s nails scratching at his skin that makes his toes curls.

“Fuck you’re gorgeous.” Jason grunts and Tim bites his lip to try and stop himself from smiling, even as he whimpers when Jason starts to speed up the movements of his hips.

“You looked in a mirror lately?” Tim asks, his sentence broken up a little from the force of Jason fucking into him, jolting his body back against the wall. Jason smirks and ignores the question completely when his head bows and he curses to himself. Tim understood, right now was not a time for talking.

Jason can’t hold Tim like that forever, the angle is too awkward and despite Jason’s upper body strength holding another person almost horizontal from your own body is not an easy task. Tim can feel himself starting to slide down the wall and he doesn’t notice that his grip on Jason’s shoulder and neck tighten as he tries to keep himself up. Jason pushes himself harder against Tim and hoists him up further and Tim’s back scraps roughly against the tiles on the wall, making him grit his teeth and hiss lowly as Jason adjusts their position.

“Sorry,” Jason mutters, moving his hand to press between Tim’s back and the wall until he’s got them in place again. Now that Tim was hoisted up more he can reach Jason better and doesn’t waste any time in holding Jason’s face between his hands and kissing him forcefully.

Jason’s movements start to get rougher and more frantic now that he can brace his hands against the wall and slam into Tim better. Tim moves one of his hands to hold the back of Jason’s head to keep him in place against his lips as he works the other down Jason’s chest and to his own cock. Their kiss gets sloppier the more Jason’s movements lose their rhythm, enough to the point that they’re just panting into each other’s mouths because they’re too lost in the feeling of each other.

Jason bows his head and moans as he tries to grip at the wall uselessly, his hips starting to stutter in their thrusting. Tim tips his head back, trying not to have his head bounce off the wall with Jason’s movements as he really starts to jerk himself off. He was getting close, and he could tell that Jason was right there too, if the sloppy jolting of his hips wasn’t enough indication then the fact that he seemed like he couldn’t keep his own head up and was whimpering softly was.

“Jason.” Tim’s voice is low and airy as he moans Jason’s name. His grip on Jason’s hair tightens when Jason leans forward and bites into the crook of his neck.

Jason liked using his teeth, loved having bitemarks littering Tim’s body, like he was trying to claim him. Tim couldn’t complain, the dull ache that followed the day after Jason had bruised up his skin was always amazing, and Jason would always kiss any marks he had on his body until they were faded, and Jason left more. And it was nice feeling like Jason was possessive over him. Tim moans and whimpers, his whole body tensing up as he grips Jason harder, trying to pull him impossibly closer as he comes, his eyes rolling back in his head at the feeling.

He mutters a low string of curses, his body shaking against Jason’s as he continues to stroke his cock even after he’s finished shooting his load between them. And he twitches almost violently against Jason when his teeth bite down harder on his skin.

“Fuck Jason.” Tim wraps both his arms tight around Jason’s shoulders and rolls his hips down against Jason’s as best he can, his breathing laboured as he tries to focus his eyes again. It takes a moment before Jason pulls away from Tim’s neck, panting heavily like he’d been holding his breath the whole time as his hands find their way to Tim’s hip and back and pull him down hard against his body. Tim bites his lip and runs his fingers through Jason’s hair as the older grinds his teeth, grunted curses getting caught in his throat. His chin presses down hard against Tim’s sternum and he thrust forward hard as he comes inside Tim.

“God.” A soft moan escapes Tim’s parted lips at the feel and sight of Jason. He runs his hands up and down Jason’s back, his partner's body shaking under his fingertips. Jason’s eyes slowly blink open and he blows air over Tim’s neck as he tries to catch his breath. Tim leans in and presses a kiss to Jason’s forehead. He feels Jason’s arms shake and smirks to himself. “How ‘bout you put me down before you drop me?”

Jason huffs out a small chuckle but he doesn’t disagree with the idea. His legs shake as he pulls Tim off his cock and carefully sets him back down on his feet. Tim leans back heavily against the wall and keeps his arms around Jason’s neck. Jason leans forward and rests his forehead on Tim’s, his body still heaving slightly. Tim tries not to laugh too much but he can’t help it when Jason lets out a small sound and collapses more against Tim’s body, forcing him to keep him upright some.

“Hey, I’m not as strong as you.” Tim complains, trying to push at Jason’s chest so that he’s not pressing him into the wall further. Jason makes a low noise and nuzzles into Tim’s shoulder.

“You’re amazing.” Jason mumbles and Tim chuckles, shoving at Jason more to try and get him to support his own weight.

“You’re gonna crush me.”

“I’m not that heavy.” Jason complains but he does brace his hands on either side of Tim’s head and push himself away from Tim’s body.

“Yeah well, my legs are still shaking.” Tim admits and Jason’s smile is as soft and loving as it could be. Tim chews his bottom lip and watches Jason’s eyes roam down his body slowly for a minute. “What?”

“My daughter huh?” Jason moves his hand to rest against Tim’s belly, stroking his thumb over his skin. Tim averts his eyes, his hands still pressed against Jason’s chest.

“I’ve been thinking about it and you’re right, we do need more girls in this family.” Tim shrugs and Jason ducks his head down and kisses Tim softly without a word. Tim smiles against Jason’s lips as Jason’s arms come around his body and pull him closer.

“I love you so much.” Jason whispers when he rests his forehead against Tim’s again.

“I love you too, Jason.” Tim pushes himself up on his toes and gives Jason another quick kiss. “However, I do have to get moving.”

“Yeah, I know. Wish I could keep you here all day.”

“Sap.” Tim chuckles, squirming out of Jason’s arms and getting himself back under the water to do a quick rinse off again.

“Tomorrow you’re mine, fair?” Jason presses himself against Tim’s back and wraps his arms around his body, preventing Tim from being able to do anything else. Tim bites back a smile and shakes his head.

“No promises.”

“I will chain you to the bed if I have to.” Jason hums and Tim chuckles and pushes Jason’s face away from his shoulder.

“Kinky.”

“You know it Babybird.”

Tim manages to escape Jason’s hold again and jumps out of the shower. He grabs himself a towel and works to quickly dry himself off. Jason stays in the shower for a bit more, working a small amount of shampoo through his own hair. Tim can’t help but watch him a little as he attempts to dry his own hair.

“I see you staring.” Jason hums and Tim pokes his tongue out and turns away from Jason completely and decides he should probably brush his teeth. Not even a moment later the waters being turned off and Jason’s stepping out.

“If you washed your hair properly, it wouldn’t be so gross.” Tim mumbles around the toothbrush in his mouth, chucking the towel to Jason and collecting up his underwear.

“My hair is perfectly fine.” Jason huffs and Tim turns to him with a raised eyebrow.

“You sure about that?”

“Well, you like it.” Jason shrugs with a lopsided smile and Tim clicks his tongue and collects up his other clothes.

“Yeah but not when it feels like you melted a candle into it.” Tim mumbles. He rinses his mouth out completely before he shuffles over to the door. Jason rolls his eyes and Tim smirks to himself and leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

He plods down into his own room and gets himself changed into a pair of skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt. He’s going to rejoice in the fact that he can still get into jeans for the time being. He nearly forgets about taking a nausea tablet before he heads for Damian’s room. He raps his knuckles against the doorframe since the door itself is open and pokes his head in. Damian turns away from his computer and pretends to look at a watch he isn’t wearing.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up.” Tim shakes his head with a crooked smile and averts his gaze.

“No self-control.” Damian teases as he turns back to his computer and closes everything up and shuts it down.

“It’s Jason’s fault.” Tim turns on his toes and the two of them head downstairs together.

“You’re just as much at blame as he is.” Damian hums as he takes a detour into the kitchen. Dick’s sat at the table with a tablet between his hands. He looks up to the two and waves over to Tim.

“Someone made the papers.” He says in a sing-song tone. Tim frowns and moves over to where he’s sat, leaning over the back of his chair to have a look at what he was referring to. Dick gets up the page and holds it up for Tim to take. Tim wasn’t expecting to see pictures of him and Jason from when they were out yesterday. Tim hadn’t even seen any paparazzi or anything of the likes and wonders if it was something like that or just some random who had managed to get some decent pictures with their phone and sent them in for the money.

The first picture was just the two of them holding hands as they were walking with the stupid headline; ‘An unlikely match, is it right or wrong?’. Tim has to will every fibre in his body not to audibly groan at how stupid it sounds. He shakes his head a little and scans his eyes over the article. It’s pretty funny the things people will say to try and get a story out, the assumptions that they’ll make and how much they exaggerate.

The argument is as to be expected, ‘Todd and Drake aren’t even adopted brothers anymore since Jason was legally announced as dead, blah blah blah’ only to turn around and say, ‘Wayne has gone on record referring to them both as his sons’. It’s all typical gossip spit that all the magazines and newspapers will be talking about for weeks now. But another picture catches Tim’s attention and he can’t help but smile a little to himself at it. Because it was them kissing and something about it was nice, despite how many people he knows will see it and have the most colourful things to say about it.

“I mean the journalist was a bit of a dick about it, but I think it’s pretty cute.” Dick offers Tim a soft smile and Tim returns it before he looks back to the article.

“I don’t really care what people say. If they knew what was really going on it’d be worse.”

“I know.” Dick hums before he averts his attention and smiles wide again. Tim follows his gaze to see Jason walking into the room, working a shirt on over his head a little awkwardly. All Tim can think is how much of a big oaf Jason looks like. “Jaayy, you and Timmy are in the paperrrr.”

“But I haven’t done anything stupid lately.” Jason mumbles and Tim rolls his eyes, passing him the tablet.

“That’s a surprise.” Damian hums, now armed with a coffee before he steps up to Tim and nudges his side. “Ready to go?”

“Yep.” Tim looks back over to Jason to see his reaction and isn’t really surprised to see him smiling fondly.

“We look cute together.” He hums, looking up to Tim with a sideways smirk. Tim clicks his tongue and tips his head back when Jason steps up into his space.

“If you say so.” He pushes up on his toes and pecks Jason’s lips before he slides past him and follows after Damian from the room.

“You’re allowed to admit it.” Jason calls after him and Tim smiles to himself.

“Bye.” Is all he calls back and he hears how Dick says that he agrees with Jason’s statement before the two lapse into conversation. Damian nudges Tim again and smirks down at him.

“Even I have to admit that he’s right.”

“Aw Dami, that can’t be easy for you.” Tim teases and Damian shakes his head despite the affectionate smile across his lips.

“Yeah, you know how much I hate agreeing with Jason.” Damian huffs and Tim chuckles with him.

“Hey, Jason made it into a paper.” Tim pokes his tongue out and Damian rolls his eyes.

“It’s not the same.”

“You’re not jealous are you Dami? You worried he’s gonna end up on magazine covers now too?” Tim keeps teasing and Damian looks back down to him with a flat look.

“You wish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	32. Brunch

To Tim’s surprise, Damian takes him back to the café that they’d been at with the girls a few weeks ago.

“I didn’t realise you liked this place that much.” Tim smirks as they’re seated at a table big enough for four people, maybe five if you squeeze in.

“I enjoyed last time quite a lot, but as you know I had trouble choosing what to have so I’m going to go with my second option today.” Damian folds his arms over the table and gives Tim a look like he’d just made an amazing point in something. Tim hums and scans over the menu.

“Yeah, there’s a lot to choose from.” He agrees.

“I mean I know Wally’s not a fussy eater by any means but if it’s a favourite it’s for a reason.” Damian shrugs his shoulder lightly and Tim smirks and gives a small nod.

“True that.”

“God don’t you start.” Damian huffs and Tim looks up to him in slight confusion.

“What?”

“Talking like Jason.”

“I… what did I say?” Tim tries to think but what he said wasn’t weird, it’s not like he was talking in slag or anything.

“‘True that’, like a teenager.”

“I didn’t. I said, ‘that’s true’, didn’t I?” Tim stares wide-eyed at the table because he’s not even sure.

“I change my mind, you being this close with Jason is going to be a problem.” Damian chuckles and Tim covers his face with his hands and groans.

“Oh god, I can’t believe I said that, I’m so sorry.” Tim laughs lightly at himself.

“You should be.” Damian tuts, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“What can I say? Jason really rubs off on me.” Tim can’t help that he smirks, despite the fact the joke itself makes him cringe so hard inside he feels like he might fold in half. Damian’s face drops completely and Tim tries to snuff a laugh, resulting in him snorting. “I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Damian averts his gaze as he shakes his head again and Tim nibbles on his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling. He looks back to the menu and stops himself from saying anything else that might result in  _ Damian _ folding him in half.

“Companies here.” Damian suddenly mumbles and Tim lifts his head quickly and turns around. His head spins because he moves so fast but he easily notices Michael standing in the doorway. He’s quick to turn back to Damian before he’s spotted.

“I thought this was about Ben’s dad.” Tim hisses and Damian shrugs lightly.

“I told you I’d worry about the plan.” Damian waves over in Michael’s direction and Tim drops his gaze back to the menu. There was no telling how this was going to play out.

“I didn’t know we’d have company.” Michael’s tone is light when he steps up to the table and slides out a chair for himself and when Tim looks up at him his smile is true.

“I thought even Tim needs an escape from Jason every now and then.” Damian shrugs and Michael chuckles lightly.

“C’mon Dami, he’s not as bad as you make it seem,” Michael smirks, leaning back in his chair. Tim licks his lips and tells himself to relax so that he can smile back.

“He’s just jealous.” Tim hums and Michael’s smirk widens further.

“There’s nothing to be jealous of.” Damian argues, and Tim rolls his eyes.

“Even golden boy Grayson is jealous of Jason.”

“He is not.” Damian narrows his eyes like Tim was lying.

“Actually, he is.” Michael throws in and Damian looks between the two disbelievingly. “Dead serious.”

“What proof do you have?” He tilts his head a little and Michael sits up straighter.

“Once he told me that I was lucky Jason was the one who adopted me because no one could be a better parent than him and he sounded pretty bummed out by his own words.” Michael’s tone is nothing short of sassy and Tim isn’t sure he’s heard Michael talk like that before.

“Bullshit.” Damian mumbles and Michael throws his hands up a little.

“I’m not lying, you can ask him.”

“How do I know you’re not lying? You’re a good little liar, just like Jason used to be.” Damian smirks, leaning back in his chair because it catches Michael completely off guard. Even Tim stares over at Damian wide-eyed because that was not what he was expecting.

Michael stutters uselessly over his words, turning to look at Tim in complete shock. “Don’t look at him.” Damian mumbles.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Michael doesn’t sound angry, more like he’s a little surprised that Damian had even accused him of lying.

“Don’t act like you have no idea why we’re here.” Damian taps his fingers against the table. Michael stares him down for a good moment before he pushes himself up from his seat without a word. “Sit down kid, otherwise your number one Dad finds out about your Virus.”

Tim’s in a bit of shock. He hadn’t expected this from Damian, he wouldn’t have expected this from  _ anyone _ . He can’t help but stare blankly between the two. Michael seems to hesitate, but he slowly retakes his seat and Tim can see that he’s grinding his teeth now.

“What do you want?” Michael asks with a snark to his tone and Damian smirks as he looks past him.

“For you to have brunch with us.” He looks back to Michael with a wide smile. Before Michael can respond a waiter steps up to their table.

“Are you ready to order?”

“I think so.” Damian hums. Tim can’t even properly get his head around what’s happening and so he mumbles his order a little flatly when it’s his turn like he was worlds away. He sort of is and he needs to snap out of it.

“Now, about this Virus you have. Let’s see what we know.” Damian continues once the waiter has walked off with their orders. Michael’s shoulders are tense as he stares Damian down with a look that could kill. Damian looks to Tim and makes a small hand gesture like he’s trying to prompt him on. Tim sighs and looks over to Michael, no use in playing games.

“We know it’s Ben.” Tim mumbles and Michael closes his eyes and tilts his head like he’s trying not to let his anger get the better of him.

“How do you know?” Michael growls and Tim bites his bottom lip. He felt awful, he didn’t want Michael to hate him. Michael was Jason’s son, Jason was the most important person in Tim’s life, he couldn’t live with having the kid hate him.

“The audio receiver was designed to record all audio it collects when the signal is cut.” Tim sighs and averts his eyes. “I didn’t want to have to do it, but you wouldn’t talk to me.”

“For a reason.” Michael defends and Tim grits his teeth.

“Michael, your life is on the line.”

“Ben won’t hurt me, he’s-”

“Jason’s life is on the line.” Tim cuts in. “I am not losing Jason, not again.” He couldn’t even stay angry, he was too scared, too upset to even keep his voice stern. Michael stares a little blankly at him like the words were stuck in his head, preventing him from being able to speak.

“And if Jason lost you… he would never recover, he’d never forgive himself for letting you wear the Hood. Losing you would destroy him.” Tim continues, balling his hands into tight fists against the table top. “I need him… he needs you.”

“This isn’t just about you Michael, and maybe you’re right, Ben won’t hurt you, but tell me do you have a plan for when his dad comes after you?” Damian raises an eyebrow and leans forward more like he was making sure Michael was hearing him. Michael stays silent and Tim’s squeezing his fists so hard that his nails are digging into his palms.

“I don’t want anything happening to you Michael, none of us do. I understand okay? Ben’s your friend, you care about him, you don’t want to lose him, you want to defend him, that’s understandable. But you can’t do that at the risk of your own life.”

“If I tell you everything I know, you have to promise me something, and you have to keep it.” Michael’s voice holds distress, and Tim still feels shitty for this but hearing that sort of tone in his voice makes it even worse. Tim averts his eyes to Damian to see his reaction. He looks willing to accept whatever it is, even though he still doesn’t look happy about the whole situation.

“Okay.” Tim finally unclenches his fists.

“Don’t hurt Ben, don’t let Dad hurt Ben and… please don’t take his dad from him. He’s all Ben has left, he doesn’t have any other family, if he had a choice, he wouldn’t be doing what his dad does.” Michael isn’t looking at them anymore, he has his head down and was fiddling with his own fingers. He sighs and looks up to Tim and it sucks to see him looking like he’s on the verge of tears. “Promise me, please.”

Tim hated seeing Michael upset because he wasn’t a bad kid, he’s just been in bad situations like trouble had to follow him. He was trying his hardest to be the best, to make Jason proud and things kept trying to get in the way of that. Tim carefully reaches out and covers Michael’s hands with his own. They were shaking, and Tim felt like an asshole.

“I promise. I’ll try my hardest Mike, but if it comes to it, I will do what I have to do to defend you.” Tim tries to offer him a soft smile, but he can’t get it across because he hated the situation they were in. Michael swallows thickly and nods before he looks over to Damian.

“I promise.” He says it simply and Tim knows Damian isn’t one to wear his heart on his sleeve but the fact that he’s so calm and collected is even unsettling for him. Michael sighs and runs his hands through his hair, pulling lightly on the strands.

“Okay… His real name is Jack, I have no idea what his last name is, but he uses the first name Wayne Winston or something… maybe it was Will or Wade… Anyway, that makes it pretty fucking hard to find out anything about him. I’ve tried looking into stuff but well… I didn’t want Bruce knowing I was hunting someone down, so I wasn’t using any useful tech.

“He’s a gun for hire, has been since before Ben was born and he helps a lot in heavy drug trafficking. He operates in New York, but Gotham being fucking Gotham, he has a lot of work show up here. He lost a lot of clients, a lot of product because of the Red Hood. Batman wasn’t a problem obviously because he didn’t kill anyone. But Jason did, and Ben’s mentioned that some of the drug trade was being done… internally.”

“Internally?” Damian leans in more. “You mean like, the drugs were being trafficked inside people, right?”

“And animals.” Michael nods.

“What kind of drugs?” Tim asks.

“I don’t know what the main shit was, but sometimes it’d be Cocaine.”

“Why’d they go through so much trouble just for some coke?”

“Guess they were just sick of Bruce getting them.” Michael shrugs. “I don’t know everything okay? All I know is that by Dad taking out these people not only was he killing the traffickers, he was disposing of the product too and Jack couldn’t get it back.

“He was pretty pissed; his main source of business was being taken down by one guy. So, he scaled it down. I don’t know where he operates now, all Ben knows is that when they get in the shit it’s never more than a few kilograms at a time. But Jack’s the number one supplier on this side of the continent.”

“Where does he keep it?”

“We don’t know. Jack will go off for weeks without a word and come back fucking loaded and ready for the next one. Ben hates it. The worst thing, Jack isn’t getting away with it under the radar or anything like that. People know, they try to stop him, but they can’t.”

“Because he’s immortal.” Tim throws in.

“Well, sort of.” Michael pauses when a waiter comes back over with their food. Tim was starting to get pretty hungry so he’s glad that they have pretty fast service here. He doesn’t hesitate to dig in, whereas Michael doesn’t touch his plate at all. “He’s not immortal. He regenerates like nothing I’ve ever heard of before. The way Ben describes it, he can basically get blown inside out and his body will reconstruct itself in minutes.”

“Jesus.” Damian rests his head in his hands. “So, you can’t stop him anyway.”

“You can. But you’d have to throw him in acid and make sure he melted into nothing.” Michael shrugs like it was nothing.

Tim pauses in eating for a moment and stares blankly at his plate. This was worse then what he thought it was going to be. “Why has he taken so long to go after the Hood?”

“He didn’t plan to, but some of the people he knows, some of his clients, maybe buyers or even sellers asked him to take out the Hood, and I guess if he can get paid for some revenge, that’s a bonus in his book.” Michael shrugs again and Tim sighs.

“What’s Ben’s story?” Tim asks and Michael bites his bottom lip.

“Ben’s only had his dad, he doesn’t know any other family, he doesn’t even know his dad’s real name. Hell, he doesn’t even know his own real last name. He has no one so when Jack told him that he needed some help, he couldn’t say no. He’s grown up with it and he’s not against putting a bullet in someone he thinks deserves it, but he hates the idea of taking out people who are just trying to protect people who can’t protect themselves. He’s lost, he doesn’t know what to do and every time we’ve spoken about it he’s made it clear that he can’t lose his dad.” Michael starts playing with his food a little like he wasn’t hungry.

“So, what do we do?” Tim asks and Michael shrugs.

“We have a talk with Ben.” Damian mumbles. Tim and Michael spare him glances but don’t say anything. What other choice did they have?

\- - -

“Ben? Hey man, we uh… we need to talk.” Michael’s trying not to chew on his nails, but he’s pretty nervous about having Tim and Damian being around Ben, more so he’s nervous that something bad is going to happen to Tim. The two are standing beside him, watching him as he paces slowly in front of them while he talks to Ben over the phone. They’re leaning against the car in the backstreet, having just finished their awkward brunch.

“Yeah, no, um… about Hood.” Michael spares them a glance as he rubs the back of his neck.

“No. Tim and Damian.” There’s a brief pause of silence as Ben replies.

“Oh? Well… tonight then. You know where.” Michael sighs and leans back against the wall. “Suits, no names. Okay… See you then.”

Michael seems hesitant to hang up, his gaze on Tim and Damian as he lets out another sigh and rubs at his eyes. “He can’t right now, his dad has him running errands.”

“So tonight, I’m guessing?” Damian asks and Michael nods. “Suits, no names?”

“Aliases. Just in case.”

“Because he knows who we are.” Damian grits his teeth and Michael looks up to him.

“What do you expect? He knew I was Red Hood so of course, he figured out pretty quickly who was who.”

“Why’d you tell him you were Red Hood then?” Damian pushes and Michael sighs.

“I hadn’t wanted to. He’d told me from the start he was Virus, told me that he was into some serious shit because he thought I was going to hate him for it and he wanted it out of the way before things got worse. Of course, I don’t hate him, I couldn’t, he’s my best friend… but… when he said his dad was hunting Red Hood… I had to tell him.”

“No, you didn’t.” Damian crosses his arms over his chest and leans forward a little. “You could’ve used it to your advantage.”

“Look I get it okay? I’ve made mistakes, I’m not the smartest kid in town but if I hadn’t said anything I’d probably be dead. I took a chance and Ben gave his dad the run around pretending he was helping him hunt down the Hood. And I get that we were running out of time, but we were working on it.” Michael sighs and averts his gaze. Damian’s stance drops and he looks away too. Tim steps up to Michael and rests his hand on his shoulder.

“Michael you’re not a bad person, everyone makes mistakes. But this isn’t something you ever should have taken on by yourselves. You should’ve told Jason from the start.”

“I know, but… I’m scared what Dad will do when he finds out, he’ll go after Ben… I know he will.”

“No, you don’t.” Tim tries for a soft smile. “You’re so important to Jason, and he knows what Ben means to you.”

Michael doesn’t have a response to that. He doesn’t look up to Tim and continues to play with his own fingers. In a way, the situation Michael was in with Ben was similar to what Tim had been in with Kon. Only Kon was one step over the wrong side of that line that Ben sat uncomfortably on.

“What were you planning on doing?” Tim asks because he remembers that Michael had said he’d had a plan for how they could go about making sure that Ben’s dad didn’t end up killing either of them.

“Well… I was gonna get my own name, my own suit and start fresh. Then Ben takes the Hood and the head of some snob he was gonna be taking out anyway and hands it over to his Dad. It wasn’t foolproof, but it was all we had.”

Tim spares a glance over to Damian who looks a little worried at the idea. “I’m not sure if that would be the best way to go about it. And what was your excuse going to be for suddenly ditching the Hood?”

“I don’t know, look it was better than risking Dad going after Ben…” Michael sighs and runs his hands over his face. Tim lightly rubs his shoulder to try and relax him but he wasn’t calm himself so there wasn’t much he could do to try and make the situation any better.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure something else out tonight, okay?”

“Do you have any ideas yet?” Michael asks a little hopefully and Tim sighs, dropping his hand from Michael’s shoulder.

“No.” He mumbles honestly. He had no idea how to go about sorting this out without someone ending up in trouble. And one glance over at Damian he could tell that he didn’t have a clue either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	33. Plan B(ackfire)

“Bruce?” Tim calls out as he pokes his head into Bruce’s room. He hadn’t been down in the cave and so Tim had to assume that he was in his room considering he didn’t seem to be downstairs anywhere. He’s not there either and Tim lets out a deep sigh and rests his hands on his hips, trying to think. Bruce hadn’t left after dinner, he wouldn’t have just snuck off and there was no way no one noticed him leaving.

He looks around in Bruce’s room from where he’s stood in the doorway like maybe Bruce was hiding in the shadows or something. He was hopeful, sue him. He turns on his toes and moves back down the corridor, maybe someone else will know where he is. He hadn’t seen Jason since dinner either and takes a detour to check in his room to see if he’s in there. He isn’t, nor is Bruce though Tim couldn’t think of a reason why he would be. So, he heads for his own room next. He finds that his door is open in the slightest and grabs the handle, going to push it open when he pauses. He can hear Jason talking in a low voice and he knows he shouldn’t, but he tilts his head and tries to listen in.

“-can do anything, I mean…” there’s a pause in which Jason lets out a sigh and Tim bites his bottom lip, “I’m worried sick.”

“Have you tried talking to him?” Bruce sounds calm, but Tim can only assume that it’s in an attempt to make Jason feel better. He was probably just as worried as Jason was.

“I don’t even know where to start. I don’t know what to say, how to say it. I just… I don’t want anything to happen to him, to either of them.” Tim drops his gaze to the floor and curses himself. Of course, he’d gotten Jason so worried and worked up over himself and Michael that he’d gone to Bruce. Because if Jason couldn’t go to either of them it’d eat away at him until he snapped if he didn’t go to someone else.

“Jason, all you have to do is ask.”

“But they don’t  _ want _ to talk to me-” Tim was done eavesdropping, it was bad enough that he was the cause of this problem, that he was the reason Jason was so worked up. He sucks in a breath and takes a step back from the door, telling himself to relax. He takes the door handle in his hand again and pushes it open.  _ Act casual _ .

“Hey Jay, have-” He cuts himself off when Bruce looks over to him. Jason’s gaze is fixated on the floor and he doesn’t look over to him. His chest feels like it tightens at the sight of him. “Is um… sorry, is everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Jason mutters. Tim expected as much, but he didn’t expect it to hurt as much hearing the obvious pain in Jason’s voice. He bites his bottom lip and averts his eyes.

“Uh… can I talk to you for a minute Bruce?” Tim asks in a low voice. Bruce looks back to Jason before he follows Tim back out of the room. Tim wraps his arms around himself and lets out a soft sigh. He just needed to not think about it too much. Bruce is silent as he waits for Tim to speak up which is highly unnerving for him. “Can you be on standby tonight?”

“For what?” Bruce asks and Tim takes in a deep breath and looks up to Bruce.

“Dami, Mike and I are going into something tonight and I just want to make sure if it goes south we’ll have backup.”

“Something,” Bruce repeats and Tim knew he should’ve worded that differently.

“Covert mission, for the Court case.” Tim shrugs.

“You only want me.”

“Yeah.” Tim nods and Bruce lets out his own sigh.

“I thought you were done with secrets, Tim.” Bruce accuses. He has every right to because, of course, Tim wasn’t done lying.

“I am.” He just hopes Bruce can’t see through his mask and read it in his eyes. He doesn’t give Bruce a chance to answer though. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

He walks off without the intention of getting a response or responding to anything Bruce might have to say to that. He’s glad that Bruce does keep quiet because he’s too tired to keep up this lying. Hopefully, after tonight, he’ll be able to come clean about the situation.

\- - -

Tim isn’t surprised that Michael leads Damian and himself out into the far outskirts of Gotham. Nor is he surprised that Michael claims they’re not breaking into this old warehouse. Though one look at the inside and Tim can tell that it isn’t a random location.

“Where’s Virus?” Damian asks in a reasonably flat tone.

“He won’t be far.” Michael simply replies.

“Nothing like a home away from home.” Tim mumbles, and maybe there’s some form of spite to his tone, but he’s had a rough few months, he’s allowed to be spiteful. Damian clicks his tongue and proceeds to stake out the warehouse a little.

“It’s temporary.” Michael sighs and Tim can hear the defensiveness in his tone.

“Yeah, before the permit on this place expires and whoever owns it is forced to give it up and it’s taken down.” Tim crosses his arms over his chest and averts his gaze over to Michael. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking about the situation when he’s wearing the Hood.

“Look I know you’re not exactly pleased with me right now but I’m trying okay?” Michael’s tone is practically a growl.

“I’ll be a lot happier when this is over, and I can stop lying to your Dad for you.” Tim counters. Michael looks ready to defend himself or say something snarky in response, but he falls short. He looks away and plays with the buckle of his belt just as something to fiddle with.

“You’re not lying to him for me, you’re lying to him for yourself.” Michael sighs and Tim grinds his teeth.

“I’m trying to help you, Hood. I’m not the one hiding a murderer from him.”

“By definition, you are.” Michael manages to keep his tone smug. He was right of course. Because by keeping this away from Jason, he too was hiding the truth about Ben from him. He didn’t like admitting that though, not that that was a surprise.

“When this is over if Jason doesn’t teach you a lesson, I sure as hell will.” Damian grumbles as he moves back over to stand beside Tim. Michael turns to them and holds out his hands in an offering gesture.

“Why wait?” He challenges. Damian spares a glance at Tim before he looks back over to Michael, resting his hands on his hips as he tilts his chin up a little and smirks.

“Because I’m not your father.”

“Then maybe you should stay the hell out of it.” Michael pushes and Tim can tell he’s trying to get a reaction from Damian. He’s not sure why, maybe it’s just so he can prove a point, but Tim knows Damian’s always been above petty fighting.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t care about you, Michael. We all know what you mean to Jason, what you mean to this family. You’re still my nephew, figuratively.” Damian shrugs lightly.

“Barely,” Michael grumbles. He tenses almost instantly and looks back over to Tim and Damian and even though Tim can’t see his face, he can read the regret that he knows is in his eyes just by his posture. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that like… I didn’t mean it.”

“You shouldn’t say things if you don’t mean them.” Damian accuses and before Michael can try to get back at him for that, Tim steps up and cuts in.

“Cut him some slack Dami. None of us are in the best of moods right now, we’re going to say things we don’t mean. We all just need to relax.” Tim sighs because despite how worked up he was over this, he couldn’t let it get in his head and mess with him. And he really didn’t want to have to side with either of them if they started butting heads.

“Yeah alright, y’know keeping the peace suits Grayson for a reason.” Damian mumbles and Tim shrugs his shoulders.

“He’s not here, someone’s gotta try and be the voice of reason when he isn’t.” Tim offers as he drops his arms to his sides to try and help lessen the tension in his body. There’s a pause between the three of them for a short moment.

“I’m sorry.” Michael finally says again, letting out a soft sigh. “I’m just really stressed out.”

“We know you are and we understand. But projecting it onto us and making us stressed, isn’t helping anyone.” Damian points out and Michael’s shoulders drop slightly.

“I know, it just isn’t e-” Michael’s cut off by the sound of shattering glass echoing through the open space around them. They’re all quick to take defensive stances and try to locate the source of the sound.

“Outside, West end, there’s movement,” Michael mumbles. Damian and Tim can see the two bodies, but it’s far too dark to see anything else.

“Virus?” Damian asks with a snark to his tone.

“Not likely.” Michael responds before he’s running out toward the fighting. Tim moves to follow but Damian holds his arm out in front of him and tries to hold him back.

“Stay here,” Damian mumbles in a tone serious enough to annoy Tim; he wasn’t going to be sidelined.

“Lay off.” Tim rolls his eyes and shoves Damian’s arm away, running after Michael. Damian’s quick to follow him.

The scene that they’re met with shows that one of them was thrown into a parked car on the side of the road, one that obviously isn’t run down given the fact it still has all its tires and isn’t gutted. The back left window is shattered showing it was the point of impact and source of the noise. That’s the least of their problems because what they have before them is Ben, in his suit, trying to defend himself against  _ Jason _ . Tim should have known, he should have expected this.

The most likely scenario is that Jason followed them here and when he saw Virus, coming in to meet them, must have thought he was a threat, which isn’t entirely incorrect and jumped in to protect them. They look pretty evenly matched, but the fact that Ben has no intention to actually hurt Jason puts him at risk since all Jason seems to want to do is gut him on the spot. Both Michael and Damian don’t really seem to know what to do about the situation like they don’t know who to side with. Tim sure as hell wasn’t going to stand around and watch them go at each other. Jason wasn’t even meant to be here, that ruins their plan completely.

Tim takes the initiative and goes in to break up the fight, knowing that if someone doesn’t step in, one of them will get hurt. He knows that Ben isn’t here to hurt them, he knows that Ben’s only defending himself, he knows that all he has to do is get through to Jason and get him to stop. He runs in, focusing on the fact that Jason’s swinging a knife around more than anything else and goes in to get hold of his arm. He plans on restraining Jason and letting him know that it’s him and he’s okay and that he needs to stop. But of course, that isn’t what happens.

Ben mustn’t notice who he is or what he’s doing, obviously far too distracted by Jason. All he probably sees is another body moving in and probably thinks it’s not anyone here to help him and moves out of defence. Tim can’t blame Ben, it’s all on him because he was stupid enough to think he could just jump in on this and break them apart. Ben reacts out of defensive instinct and takes a swing at Tim before he could even register  _ who _ it was he was attacking. Tim’s quick enough to block the blow to his face, but he didn’t know how fast Ben was and couldn’t have blocked the knee to the stomach even if he knew it was coming.

It happens all so fast that Tim can’t even register what’s happening before it’s already over with. Jason manages to get hold of a clearly shocked Ben and throws him back away from Tim, enough for him to drive his knife right into Ben’s side, right under his ribs. And in the same beat, Damian’s wrapping his arms under Jason’s armpits and holding his hands against Jason’s chest, pulling him away from Ben before he can stab him again. Michael’s quick to jump between the two, acting as a human shield just in case Damian can’t hold Jason back.

Tim curls in on himself, his mind ticking over, it didn’t hurt any more than being kneed in the gut normally would, but he had no idea what to think. He catches Ben looking over to him, at least he thinks he is, considering he’s wearing his mask. He’s not even putting any pressure on the stab wound. Tim’s attention is drawn to Michael as he rips the Hood off his head, dropping it to the ground as he holds his hand out to Jason like he’s trying to calm an animal.

“Dad-” Michael doesn’t look like he knows what to say, he doesn’t even look like he knows what to do with himself as Jason continues to struggle in Damian’s hold. Tim’s attention falls back to Ben as the kid moves over to him slowly. His hands shake in front of him and he doesn’t look like he knows if he should try and help or not.

“I-I’m sorry. Oh God… I’m-”

“Get the fuck away from him.” Jason spits, still trying to fight against Damian’s hold. Damian growls and tightens his grip. The only problem is that Jason’s arms aren’t at all restrained.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Ben keeps muttering and even though he isn’t moving toward Tim anymore he’s holding his hand out like he should be helping. Tim doesn’t know what to say or do.

“Jason, stop!” Damian cries out because Jason’s finally decided he’s had enough and thrusts his elbow into Damian’s chest and breaks out of his grasp.

“Dad don’t! He didn’t mean it, h-he didn’t-” Michael tries desperately, trying to get a hold of Jason. But Jason isn’t going to be stopped, and Tim can’t get in the way fast enough. Ben doesn’t even try and defend himself as Jason cracks his knuckles against Ben’s jaw. In the same movement, he shoves and pins Ben against the car again. Tim moves in and tries shoving at Jason to get him to let go of the kid.

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I didn’t want to hurt your family.” Ben’s mumbling desperately. Tim can tell he’s scared, he can’t blame him, he’s been pinned down by Jason’s aggressive side too, more times than he could count.

“Shut up.” Jason spits, pulling his arm back to deliver another blow, but Tim’s grabbing hold of his arm in a death grip and holding him back. Jason’s muscles tense more and he averts his stare to Tim. Before Tim can say anything, Michael’s there and he’s trying to push Jason away from Ben.

“Please, he’s telling the truth, you can trust him.” Michael pleads. Jason grits his teeth and turns to Michael, shrugging out of Tim’s grip and shoving Ben harder against the car.

“How can I trust him when I can’t even trust you?” Jason spits and Michael recoils. He clearly doesn’t have an answer to that.

“Jason-” Ben tries but Jason turns back to him and shoves again.

“I said shut up!” Jason growls.

“Just listen, please. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. It… I-” Ben sighs and still with shaky hands, slowly pulls his mask off. Jason’s stance visibly drops, his grip on Ben loosening.

“Ben…”

“I’m sorry Jason, I… I didn’t want to hurt Tim, I’d never want to hurt Tim.” Ben averts his gaze, catching Tim’s glance. “I’m so sorry.”

Still, Tim doesn’t know what to say and just watches him with a blank stare. Michael slowly reaches up and manages to get Jason to let go of Ben. Jason has always liked Ben, he’s always liked all of Michael’s friends, so right now he doesn’t know what to project or who to project it at.

“I’m sorry Dad, I had to-”

“You’ve never done anything wrong Michael, you’ve always been honest. So, why did you have to lie to us?” Jason sneers. Tim instinctively grabs hold of Jason’s arm. He’s never seen Jason get like this toward Michael. Sure, he’s been angry, they’ve had their fights, but he’s never seen Jason being fully aggressive toward him. Michael looks more angry then he does hurt, but Tim can see the tears that he’s trying to fight back.

“Because Ben’s my best friend! He was my friend before I was Red Hood, before he was Virus. He’s the most important person in my life and I can’t lose him!” Michael shouts, gritting his teeth hard. “I lied because I knew this would happen! I knew you’d hate him, even though it’s not his fault! I lied to protect him, to protect  _ you _ !”

“No, you did it to protect yourself,” Jason growls in a low voice. Michael goes to respond, only to fall short.

“You knew about Virus?” Tim asks in a meek voice. Because honestly, he wants them to stop fighting, but he’s realized they’re not even fighting over what he thought they would be.

“Of course, I did.” Jason mutters and Tim averts his gaze for a moment.

“You can’t be mad at Mike and not me, I lied too.” Tim mumbles, stepping away from Jason to stand beside Michael and Ben. Jason stares at him for a second before he looks back to Michael.

“No, you were lying on his behalf.”

“It doesn’t matter Jason, it was my choice. I could’ve told you the truth at any moment and I didn’t.” Tim isn’t about to let Michael take the full blame for this. They’re in this together now, he’ll take the consequences of whatever that means. Damian suddenly steps up too and stands beside Tim with a small sigh.

“I kept this from you too. We’re all in the wrong, this isn’t Michael’s fault.” Jason goes to say something, but Damian cuts him off. “Listen for a minute. I wanted to blame Mike too at first. I didn’t agree with this and when Tim came to me and not you, I knew it was serious. But you can’t be mad at him. He didn’t know what to do Jason, he just wanted to protect you. He’s just like you, he’ll put his own life at risk before he lets anything happen to anyone else.”

Jason’s silent for a moment before he lets out a small sigh and looks back to Michael. He doesn’t say anything to him though, he just watches him before he looks back to Damian. “Protect me from what?”

“My Dad.” Ben mumbles, his head bowed as he plays with his mask between his hands. Jason looks like he wants to ask, but he also looks emotionally drained.

“Okay, I…” Jason lets out a soft sigh and rubs at his eyes. “I want an explanation but not right now. I have to get you home.” Jason motions to Tim a little weakly.

“I’m fine.”

“No-” Both Ben and Jason mumble it at the same time, averting their eyes to each other. Ben’s quick to look back to Tim as he swallows thickly.

“Please. I… If something’s happened because of me…” He turns away and shakes his head. “I’m so sorry.” Tim hears the hitch in his voice and his chest feels like it tightens. He didn’t know that Ben knew, but it made sense that he did. Michael would have told him so that something like this didn’t happen. Still, Tim can’t blame Ben.

“It’s not your fault. I should know better.” Tim sighs, dropping his gaze, letting his hand rest against his stomach. Ben’s reaction made more sense now too.

“We’ll all head back.” Damian mumbles. “Check up on Tim, get Ben stitched up, then we have some serious shit to talk about.”

“I… I won’t need stitches.” Ben mumbles and Tim looks down at his side, noticing that the bleeding had stopped.

“You heal.” He mumbles in a low voice. Ben sucks on his bottom lip and nods.

“Mostly. I’ll be fine.” He shrugs and Tim averts his eyes to Michael. He doesn’t look surprised, so he probably knew. So, Jason beating him really wouldn’t have done much physical harm to him, which is probably why he didn’t seem that worried when Jason pinned him down.

“So, you’re immortal too.” Damian mumbles and Ben shakes his head.

“No. I just have regenerative powers. Fatal blows… well, they’re exactly that.”

Jason and Michael spare glances at each other, but besides that, nothing is said between them. Jason pulls Tim into his side and leads him off, his hand finding its way around Tim’s hip to rest against the side of his belly. Tim faintly hears Jason mumbling to himself and can barely pick up on him repeating ‘you’re okay’ over and over. Tim swallows back the lump that forms in his throat as he tries not to cry. He didn’t want to admit that he was scared that maybe his baby wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	34. Doubts

When they get back to the manor, Damian tells Michael and Ben to wait for them in Michael’s room while Jason leads Tim straight down to the cave. Damian follows them down and watches as Jason helps Tim remove the top half of his suit. Tim doesn’t argue about being able to do it himself which leads Damian to think that maybe he wasn’t okay. Because of course, Jason’s been pretty overbearing, and Tim hasn’t been happy about it. So, seeing that change in attitude is a little off-putting. Damian makes a point to set up for a scan while Jason takes to looking Tim over.

“It’s not even bruising,” Tim mumbles as Jason fusses over him.

“Normal injuries don’t usually bruise instantly.” Jason mumbles, with something close to a snarl to his tone. Tim averts his eyes and chews his bottom lip.

He knew that, and maybe he was used to hits bruising almost instantly from how many times Kon had lashed out at him, but he didn’t see the alarm if there wasn’t any sign of physical damage. He was in denial, he was telling himself if they ignored it, his baby would be okay. Tim sighs as Jason runs his fingers slowly and lightly over Tim’s abdomen. He moves his own hand and takes hold of Jason’s, keeping it pressed against his skin. Jason hesitates for a moment before he looks up at Tim with a small sigh of his own.

“I’ll be okay,” and Tim leans in to rest his forehead against Jason’s, lowering his voice, “they’ll be okay.” Jason screws his eyes shut tight and grinds his teeth together, trying to get himself to relax so he doesn’t have a breakdown. He needed to keep himself together for Tim, because if he started freaking out, Tim would follow suit. Jason takes in a shaky breath and lifts his head enough to press his lips to Tim’s forehead.

“If they’re anything like you, they’ll be a tough cookie.” Jason mumbles against Tim’s skin. A weak smile finds its way across Tim’s lips and he squeezes Jason’s hand more in his own.

“Like you?” Tim asks in a low voice and Jason pulls back to look Tim in the eye.

“We really are an indestructible force.” Jason hums and Tim shuffles closer to rest his head in the crook of Jason’s neck.

“Let’s hope so.” Tim whispers it more to himself but if Jason hears it, he doesn’t say anything about it.

“Scans ready.” Damian mumbles after a moment. Tim pauses for a few seconds before he goes to pull away from Jason, only to have the older tighten his hold on him.

He gets it, understands why Jason is doing this. Because he knows that once he has a scan they’ll know if anything’s wrong, it’ll be confirming it. If he doesn’t, they can just pretend he’s okay. He takes in a shaky breath and pulls back, forcing Jason to let go of him. Jason wraps his arms around himself and catches Damian glancing over at him. He knew the look Damian would be giving him would be something of sympathy, close to pity and Jason doesn’t want to see that. He just wants Tim and the baby to be okay, he doesn’t need anything but answers.

Jason’s brain completely zones him out and it’s like he’s not even in the room anymore. So much was going on, so much had happened, and it hasn’t even been two months yet. Not only did he have to be worrying about Tim and the baby now, but there was the whole mess going on with Michael and Ben. And no matter how angry he was, he could never actually bring himself to feel any form of hate toward the kids. Because that was just it, they’re just kids and they’re trying to be bigger and better then they need to be.

So, Jason doesn’t move when he zones out, doesn’t even register as the scan takes place or when Damian starts looking over the results. Jason doesn’t take any of it in because he’s worlds away.

“Jay,” Tim mumbles and when Jason continues to stare at the floor in front of him with his hands gripping his arms far too tight, Tim carefully steps up to him and reaches up to cup his cheek. Jason jolts out of his trance, literately and his eyes snap up to Tim’s face like he had no idea where he was. Tim offers Jason a soft smile and rubs his thumb over his cheek lightly.

“Sorry, are you…” Jason trails off as he unfolds his arms and takes hold of Tim’s waist. Tim’s smile softens, and he lets out a soft chuckle.

“As far as we can see, everything’s okay.” Damian offers, and Jason visibly relaxes.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you were worrying so much. I told you I’d be fine.” Tim shrugs and Jason clicks his tongue.

“I’m going to worry. I’m going to be worrying about you and about them until the day I die.” Jason mumbles and Tim averts his eyes to try and hide how happy that makes him feel, how much it makes him want to smile from ear to ear hearing that.

“You’re a worrier, in more sense than one, we know.” Damian mumbles and Jason shrugs his shoulder lightly before he leans in to press another kiss to Tim’s forehead.

“My family comes first.” He whispers, and Tim really wishes he wouldn’t say things that make his face flush red. He leans in enough to press a light kiss to Jason’s neck before he pulls back and looks over to Damian, hoping that the younger wouldn’t notice the blush across his cheeks.

“Back to work, I guess.” He mumbles and Damian nods in agreement.

“There’s a lot we need to do.” He emphasises the point with the tone of his voice and Tim couldn’t agree more. There was a lot Jason still didn’t know that they’d have to explain, and then there was the problem with trying to figure out what to do to end this. Tim was already thinking of the possible things Jason might say and he didn’t like any of them.

\- - -

Now that the situation was better explained to Jason, he didn’t seem to be angry. Though Tim’s finding it a little hard to read anything from him when his face isn’t showing signs of any emotions when Tim can actually see his face. He keeps looking away and gnawing on his lip which is frustrating Tim beyond belief. Because he can’t read Jason if he can’t get a proper look at his eyes and the lip gnawing is a distraction to avert his gaze.

“I’ve been trying my hardest to keep him away but… I don’t really have a reason without saying something I can’t or shouldn’t.” Ben mumbles. He’s still curled in on himself, feeling shitty despite the fact Tim assured him he was fine.  

“So what have you told him?” Damian asks and Ben shakes his head.

“Nothing. I just keep getting him to check out ‘regular’ locations for the Hood to be hanging around in.”

“Hasn’t he figured out that it’s a little weird the Hood hasn’t been in those locations?” Damian keeps pushing and Ben shrugs.

“That’s the thing, he has, just always at the wrong times, which I’m sure my Dad’s going to figure out isn’t coincidence pretty soon. But at least I brought us some time, right?” Ben looked nervous for their approval, which was a little off-putting.

“You’ve done the best you could with your limited options.” Tim offers and Ben lets out a small sigh, running his hand through his long hair.

“I feel like I could’ve done so much more… I should’ve just told you, I should’ve…” He averts his gaze and plays with his own fingers.

“Michael told us. You can’t afford to lose your dad, we get it. But Ben… we don’t really have many options.” Tim tries to sound comforting but he knows that he’s not going to be able to pull it off properly.

“If I really look at it, there never should have been any questions about it. My two options are, tell you guys and have my Dad locked up or say nothing and watch as my Dad kills one of you. There’s only one option. I’m not going to let anything happen to you guys and it’s not like it’ll be the first time my Dad goes to prison. And what’s it matter anyway? I barely see him anymore as it is.” Ben shakes his head a little and rubs at his eyes. Tim drops his gaze and bites his bottom lip. The rooms silent for a moment and although Tim wants to see how the others are taking this, he can’t get himself to look to anyone. After a moment Jason let’s out a sigh and pushes himself up from where he was leaning against Michael’s desk and runs his hand through his hair.

“There is a third option.” He proposes, and everyone looks over to him. He bites his lip and shakes his head, mumbling something to himself before he looks over to Ben. “I’m going to talk to Jack-” And instantly both Michael and Ben are cutting in to say how much he  _ can’t _ do that. Jason holds up his hands.

“Just shut up and listen for a minute.” He cuts in and they both fall silent, shifting awkwardly on Michael’s bed. “I’m going to tell him what his options are. Either he goes back to New York and they can deal with him or he can be cellmates with the Joker in Arkham.”

“He’ll kill you.” Ben states in a distressed tone and Jason crosses his arms over his chest.

“No, he won’t because he won’t get a chance to.”

“But-”

“This isn’t a discussion. This is what we’re doing.” Jason looks up at Tim. “Don’t get angry with me but you’re staying home. And so are you.” Jason looks back to Michael who looks pretty shocked by the statement.

“What, why?”

“Two reasons. I don’t want you out there, and I need someone to make sure Tim actually listens to me.” Jason looks back and forth between the two. “Is that going to be a problem?”

“No, but only if you take Bruce and Dick with you.” Tim mumbles and Jason offers him something close to a smile. It’s probably the best he can give right now, Tim isn’t going to take it personally.

“Planned to baby.” He assures. Tim nods and lets out a deep sigh. He didn’t like this, but he also knew that they didn’t have many options and that if they tried to talk Jason out of it, he’d just go off on his own anyway. “Do you have somewhere you can meet up with him?”

“Yeah, I can get him to meet us anywhere.”

“Good, set a place and time.”

“For tonight?” Ben asks a little cautiously. Jason hesitates for a moment before he looks around the room.

“No. Not tonight.”

“Okay… I’ll do it during the day, a public place might minimise the chance of something going wrong.” Ben shrugs slightly and Jason nods.

“Good thinking.” Damian hums and Ben tries for a smile but it doesn’t hold true and quickly disappears again.

“So we’re done here?” Jason asks and Ben nods a little quickly. “Good, I wanna talk to you.” Jason points to Michael again and his shoulders sag and he lets out a small groan. Ben jumps up to his feet, a little too fast if Tim’s honest and keeps his eyes on the floor.

“I’ll see you soon.” He mumbles and then he’s making a hasty beeline out of the room. Damian looks back over to Jason and scoffs.

“I think you scared him.”

“I didn’t notice.” Jason clicks his tongue and throws a smirk over to Damian.

“It’s not you,” Michael mutters. “He’s scared that Jack’s not going to be as reasonable as you think he is and he’s going to hurt you.”

“I don’t expect him to be reasonable, I know he’s not going to be. And I don’t care that he can regenerate. I’m not scared of him. He made the mistake to threaten my family, I’ll make sure he regrets ever coming to this city.” Jason grits his teeth and his fingers dig into his arms. “He might be ‘immortal’ but I’ll prove to him that powers mean shit if you mess with me.”

Tim’s eye fall closed and he tries not to make any audible noise of disbelief. Jason is probably the most stubborn person Tim knew. He always set his motive and mind and was always determined to see it through to the end to make sure his way worked, no matter what. Sure, for the most part, Jason could pull anything off this way, but no one’s going to forget the time that backfired in the worst way possible, resulting in him getting himself killed. But Tim knows he can’t try and talk to him about it so he’ll just leave it. Damian steps up to Tim and rests his hand lightly on his hip, leaning in until his chin is nearly resting on Tim’s shoulder.

“Just in case you had any doubt, I think your baby is going to be just fine.” Damian whispers with a slight chuckle. Tim sighs and shakes his head, looking over at Jason.

“I won’t be if he gets himself killed.” Tim mumbles and Damian snorts.

“I don’t think Jason is going anywhere anytime soon. You know it’s been proven that if you’re stubborn enough you won’t die?” Damian offers and Tim shakes his head more.

“Yeah, there’s proof of that standing a few feet in front of us.” Tim sighs. Damian chuckles as he pats Tim’s hip before he moves out of Tim’s space and walks off. Tim drops his hands to his sides and nibbles his bottom lip. “Jay?”

Jason lifts his gaze and finally, _finally_ , Tim can read him. He still looked worried, but he wasn’t angry. Tim absentmindedly wets his lips before he nods toward the door. “Can I have a quick word with you?”

Jason nods and steps over to follow Tim out the door. Tim catches how Michael deflates a little and lets himself fall back on his bed with a heavy sigh. Tim shuts the door behind him and leans up against the wall, looking around Jason and watching as Damian heads downstairs. Jason works his hands into the front pockets of his pants and stands in front of Tim, not too close.

“What changed your mind?” Tim asks, tilting his head back. He knows Jason knows what he’s talking about. Because Jason had been pretty set on making sure that Jack did get thrown into Arkham, and not just for threatening his life. After all, he was a drug dealing murderer. Jason lets out a small sigh and drops his gaze, kicking his toe into the carpeted floor. He hesitates with his response for a moment, but Tim can see that he’s upset.

“Because I know what it’s like to live with your Dad locked up. And yeah, Ben’s older then I was when I lost Dad, but your father is still your father, regardless of what he’s done. I might hate him now, I might have always hated him somewhat, but Willis was my Dad, and occasionally he’d act like one, when he wasn’t beating me. Nothing will change the fact that he was my father. And you can tell Ben needs Jack, so… I’m giving him the option to be there for his son because no matter how much it doesn’t always feel like it, it’s your Dad and some part of you will always love him.” Jason sighs and turns his head away. “I’d give anything to see Dad once more. Even if it’s just so I can punch him in the face.”

Tim drops his gaze and wraps his arms around himself. He knew that Jason has always hated Willis, part of him always has too because he knew the asshole abused Jason as a kid. And he drove Jason’s mom over the edge and Tim will never be able to feel any sort of pain close to what he knows Jason must have felt when he found his mother dead. And maybe it made sense that some part of Jason could still love his father, but Tim didn’t know that this was something that still plagued Jason as much as it clearly still does.

“I’m sorry.” Tim mumbles and Jason looks back at him and steps in closer to his boyfriend.

“What for?” Jason asks, dropping his hands from his pockets so that he can reach out and lightly rest his hands on Tim’s hips.

“I… I don’t know. I just don’t know what to say.” Tim shrugs and Jason offers him a soft yet sad smile.

“It’s okay. I get it.”

“I didn’t know it still bothered you that much.”

“I think it always will. Just because there will never be that sense of closure. There’s a lot I have to say that won’t ever get said.” Jason shakes his head and snorts. “He’s probably lucky he died before I got a chance to grow up and kick his ass.”

“I don’t doubt for a moment you might have driven him to kill himself if he was still alive.” Tim smirks and Jason returns it.

“I’d have killed him first, for Mom.” Jason hums and Tim nods knowingly.

They fall silent again, because Tim had no idea what to say if he even should say anything at all. Jason didn’t like talking about his parents, Tim knew and respected that. Yet, Tim always knew there was so much to talk about. Jason leans in and presses his forehead to Tim’s, closing his eyes as he steps in even closer to Tim and wraps his arms around him. Tim returns the hug, reaching up to carefully stroke the back of Jason’s hair.

“I promise, no matter how bad shit gets, I will never abandon you two.” Jason whispers and Tim bites his bottom lip and nods lightly.

“I know you won’t Jase.” Tim lifts his head and smiles up at Jason. “You’re probably somehow the sweetest, kindest and yet most annoying and stubborn asshole I know. You’re an amazing person Jason and… I hope that this baby is yours because there’s no one else I’d rather have a family with.”

“Aw babe.” Jason’s smile brightens more and he chuckles softly. “I think you made my heart orgasm.”

“Shut up.” Tim laughs as he shakes his head. His smile softens with Jason’s as Jason’s hand finds its way to Tim’s stomach.

“I love you.” Jason whispers and Tim stands up on his toes and kisses him.

“I love you too.” He whispers between kisses. When they pull back and Tim drops back to his feet he nods his head toward Michael’s door. “Your son is waiting for you.”

“I know.”

“Go easy on the kid. His intentions were for the better he just… didn’t know how to go about the situation properly.” Tim shrugs his shoulder a little.

“I know, I’m not mad at him. I’m mad at myself. I should have known something was up before you told me. He’s been acting strange for weeks and I just brushed it off, thinking if it was serious he’d have told me.” Jason sighs and Tim drops his gaze again.

“At least you noticed something was wrong. I sure as hell didn’t realise it.” Tim mumbles.

“It’s not your job to, he’s not your kid. I should have spoken to him about it.”

“Jason you can’t beat yourself up over this. Do you really think asking him about it would have changed anything? He didn’t want you to know, he wasn’t going to tell you regardless.” Tim tries to reassure. He can’t know that what he’s saying is true, but he does know that the probability of Michael telling him about it was low. Because he made it clear he didn’t want Jason to know, so him asking about it wouldn’t have changed much about Michael’s decision to keep it to himself. Jason watches Tim for a moment, mulling it over before he looks away again.

“I guess.” He mutters in a low voice. Tim reaches up and softly runs his hand over Jason’s cheek and into the side of his hair. Jason doesn’t turn back to Tim, but he does reach up to lightly take hold of his wrist. “You should head to bed.”

“Yeah sure, okay Dad.” Tim rolls his eyes with a huff. Jason looks to him through the corner of his eye and a brief smile turns up the corner of his lip, but it disappears just as fast.

“I can tell you’re exhausted.”

“Alright, but I’ve gotta talk to Dami first.” Tim pushes himself up from leaning against the wall and works his hands into the pockets of Jason’s -well Dick’s- hoodie.

“Guess I’ll see you in bed?” Jason hums and Tim nods with a soft smile. Jason nods in return before he lets out a heavy breath and pushes Michael’s door open and steps inside. Tim doesn’t float for too long outside Michael’s room before he heads downstairs to find where Damian had gone off too.

Surprisingly, he’s in the kitchen and not down in the cave, a cup of tea clasped between his hands as he sits at the table. He was staring vacantly across the room, but when he notices Tim approaching he blinks his eyes back into focus and looks up at him as he comes into the room. “Would you like a cup?”

“No, I’m fine thanks. Tea before bed always results in me having to get up in the middle of the night.” Tim lets out a small sound as he sits himself down beside Damian, slouching slightly and stretching his legs out.

“Well, that’s not a problem considering its just past midnight.” Damian hums as he checks his phone for the time. Tim rolls his eyes and nudges his elbow with a light chuckle.

“You know what I mean.” He sighs, tipping his head back as he lets his eyes close. A small silence falls between them as Tim worries his bottom lip between his teeth. He lightly drums his fingers against the edge of the table. Talking to Damian shouldn’t be hard anymore, they’re past all of that, and yet Tim can’t seem to find the words he needs.

“How’re you feeling?” Damian asks after a moment. Tim opens his eyes and stares up at the ceiling as he lets his bottom lip fall from between his teeth.

“Okay.” Tim replies honestly.

“Just okay?” Damian hums as Tim sits up straighter again. He shrugs a shoulder and drops his gaze to his lap, playing with his own fingers. He knows being vague isn’t helping, and that not saying anything is worse, and yet he doesn’t say anything else and they lapse into more silence.

“You should get some sleep.” Damian mumbles once the silence has sat too long and too thick between them. Tim grits his teeth and curses himself in his mind.

“I know, it’s just…” Tim dares a glance up at Damian and falls short for words again. He sucks in his lip again and chews it out of nervous habit. Damian raises an eyebrow and shifts to face Tim better, placing his cup back onto the table.

“Go on.” Damian encourages. Tim sucks in a deep breath, but he already knows that he’s not going to say what he wanted to.

“I guess I’m just worried.” He shrugs again and even though he tries not to drop his gaze, he does once more.

“About Jason?” Tim just nods and Damian offers him a soft smile, even though he’s not looking at him. “He’ll be fine, we’ll make sure of it. I promise he’ll come home to you.”

A sad smile finds its way onto Tim’s face. “All of you better.”

“We will. Don’t worry so much, it’s not good for you.” Damian reaches out and rests his hand on Tim’s leg, giving it a light squeeze. Tim swallows thickly and nods, looking back up at Damian.

“So, I’ve heard.” Tim sighs.

“Go get some sleep. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“There’s a lot to talk about.” Tim admits, and Damian clicks his tongue, sitting up straighter and turning back in his seat.

“Tell me about it.” He chuckles, and Tim forces a smile before he stands up. If only he knew the half of it.

“Night.” Tim ruffles Damian’s hair lightly before he steps away from the table.

“Sleep well.” Damian responds and Tim nods, knowing full well that it wouldn’t hurt for him to say the same thing back. He doesn’t.

He trudges back upstairs and heads straight for his room, he’ll have a shower in the morning if he feels like it. He’s allowed to be dirty for a few days if he decides he’s too lazy. Not surprising to him, Jason’s sat on his bed, propped up against the headboard while he looks at his phone. Tim pauses in the doorway for a moment, not long enough for Jason to notice him before he steps in and closes the door behind him. The only light in the room is from Jason’s phone and the dull glow from his bedside lamp. Jason looks up at him with a soft smile, but it falls away almost instantly.

“What’s wrong Babygirl?” Jason asks in that tone of voice that Tim doesn’t want to hear right now.

“Nothing,” Tim mumbles as he moves over to the bed, working the hoddie off as he goes, dropping it to the floor at the end of his bed. He’ll put it back on in the morning anyway, though it should probably have a date with the washing machine. If Alfred notices he’s been wearing it for too many days in a row he’ll rip it off Tim’s body and throw it in the wash anyway. “Just tired.”

“Never heard that one before.” Jason rolls his eyes, turning off his phone and leaning over to set it on the drawers on that side of the bed, plugging it into its charger. “What’s really going on?”

Tim sighs and fishes his own phone out of his pocket and does the same before he strips off his pants. Before he can go for it, Jason takes the shirt from under his pillow and holds it out for him. He mumbles a low ‘thanks’ and throws it on. It used to be Kon’s, so many years ago. But Tim had taken it as his pyjama shirt and he didn’t really plan on giving it up. It was oversized on Kon, so it was massive on Tim’s small frame. The perfect shirt to sleep in.

“Well, just so you know, I really am tired.” Tim admits as he crawls into bed, getting under the covers instantly and flopping down onto his side with a heavy sigh. He looks up to Jason and bites his bottom lip. “I guess there’s just so much going on at the moment and I haven’t made that any easier…”

“Don’t.” Jason mumbles and Tim drops his gaze with a sigh. “Yes, there’s a lot going on, but when isn’t there? Our lives are chaos, nothing ever just stops. But baby, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million more times; getting you pregnant is one of the best things to happen in this family.”

“It… it’s not just that Jay.” Tim sighs and grips at the bedsheets. Jason hesitates for a moment before he lifts up the covers and shimmies down the bed until he’s laid facing Tim.

“Then what is it? You can talk to me, Tim.” Jason drops his voice to a low, calming whisper. Tim swallows thickly and stares back at Jason, unsure of how to continue. After a moment, he just shakes his head. Jason sighs and averts his eyes, giving Tim the excuse to do the same.

“Okay,” Jason mumbles before he shifts again and reaches back over the edge of the bed and turns off the lamp, encasing them in complete darkness. Tim waits it out, listening as Jason shuffles back under the covers and closer to him. Slowly Jason moves forward and Tim all too eagerly cuddles into his boyfriend's embrace. He rests his head in the crook of Jason’s neck, holding his hands pressed against his chest as Jason’s hands come to rest against his back.

“I get that you’re not ready to talk about it, but please, don’t shut me out, baby.” Tim hates that he can hear the vulnerability in Jason’s tone. Because Tim has done that before, and there’s no way Jason could ever know if he’ll do it again. Tim bites his bottom lip and squeezes his eyes closed.

“I won’t,” Tim whispers and he feels Jason’s arms relax slightly around him. And then it’s just silence, with Jason holding onto Tim while his mind runs wild. And if he falls asleep with tears in his eyes, Jason will never know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	35. Breakfast in bed

Tim waking up after Jason doesn’t happen. Jason was a restless sleeper most of the time and would usually sleep in to make up for how terrible his sleep always seemed to be. So, when Tim wakes up and he doesn’t instantly come face to face with Jason, he frowns and lifts his head. The impressive thing is that Jason had somehow managed to get himself out of bed and also leave Tim’s room without waking him. Tim guesses he really needed his sleep if Jason untangling himself from him hadn’t woken him up. He sits himself up and stretches with a loud yawn. When he checks his phone it’s only just past six, way too early for Jason to be awake on his own accord. As it was Tim hasn’t been getting up earlier than seven the past few weeks.

He carefully gets out of bed, waiting for a wave of nausea to come crashing over him. He’s surprised when he isn’t hit by it instantly. He collects up Jason’s hoodie from the night before off the floor and gets himself a clean pair of sweatpants and fresh underwear. Shower first, then he’ll figure out the case of his missing boyfriend. He takes a tablet with him to the bathroom so that he can take it with some water. He pops the pill into his mouth and cups his hands under the tap and easily swallows it down. He lets out a sigh and looks to his reflection, running his fingers through his hair.

He looked better, he couldn’t deny that the bags under his eyes were lifting and he just looked healthier. He frowns a little when he notices a mark on the side of his neck and tilts his head a little to try and get a better look at it. It’s definitely a hickey that he doesn’t remember Jason leaving on him. It’s not that big or dark of a colour. Jason must have done it while Tim was sleeping, which raises some concerns as to how much sleep Jason did or didn’t get or if he even stayed in bed after Tim fell asleep. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling so well. He tells himself not to think about it too much just yet and strips out of his clothes so he can shower.

He doesn’t spend too much time in there, he just needs to wash off the grime of yesterday and it’s not like he did much anyway. He’s not allowed to do much even if he wanted to. So he’s in and out within about six minutes, not even bothering to get his hair wet in the slightest since Jason had washed it for him yesterday. He’s quick to get changed and make his way downstairs, not before he checks in his room again to make sure Jason hadn’t made his way back in there since he got up. He’s a little surprised to find Dick up at this hour, though he doesn’t really look that awake from where he’s sat at the table, staring off across the room at nothing. Tim steps up to him a little cautiously and lightly runs his hand through his hair. Dick hums lowly and leans into the touch, his eyes falling closed as he makes a content noise.

“Would it be ignorant of me to say good morning?” Tim asks with a light chuckle. Dick nods against his hand before he straightens up in his chair and looks up at Tim with heavy eyes.

“How do you do it?” He asks in a low, gravelly voice and if Tim’s honest, he’s never heard Dick sound so tired in his whole life.

“Get up early? It’s called consistency.” Tim shrugs and leans his hip against the table.

“No, but like, howwww? You stay up so late.” Dick complains and Tim chuckles, petting Dick’s hair again.

“Like I said, consistency. Why’re you up so early anyway?” Tim hums, slowly running his fingers through the strands of Dick’s hair. It was so soft, softer than Tim's has ever been. Maybe he was jealous, but what about Dick wasn’t better than everyone else on the planet? A natural beauty, the lucky bastard.

“I’m not meant to tell you this, but B’s given me responsibility of the Titan’s again while you’re pregnant. I know they don’t need me but… Um… they need to know about… y’know and I thought it’d be easier on you if I told them. They wanted to meet up early so here I am.” Dick looks back up at Tim and shrugs lightly. Tim nibbles on his bottom lip and nods.

“I uh… I was planning on telling them, especially after what happened at the café with Bart and Jaime I just… there’s other stuff going on right now.” Tim averts his gaze and lets out a soft sigh.

“I know. If you want me to keep my mouth shut about it I will, I’ve gotta talk to them about just making sure they’re not going to fall apart without you.” Dick’s smirk is teasing, and Tim shakes his head and finally lets his hand fall from Dick’s hair.

“I’m barely a Titan anymore Dick, they can handle themselves. We’re not kids anymore.”

“I know, the  _ real _ truth is that Bruce has an assignment that he needs them to take care of and considering you’re not meant to be doing too much, I’m now moderator,” Dick states it like he’s proud of himself, like he hasn’t done this sort of thing a thousand times before when Tim hasn’t been able to due to various reasons.

“I’m not allowed to know what it is am I?”

“Nope,” Dick smirks and Tim shakes his head lightly. He lets out a soft sigh and mumbles to himself because of course he’s not allowed to. Bruce probably thinks he’ll try and take it over if he does. Dick shifts in his chair, turning to face Tim more. He makes a small gesture toward Tim’s stomach. “May I?”

“I don’t know why people keep asking or what any of you plan on finding.” Tim drops his hands to his sides and watches as Dick almost cautiously rests the palm of his hand against his belly.

“Well I mean it’s polite to ask someone before you touch them, so excuse us for having manners. And I don’t think you realise how big of a deal this is. You’re gonna have a baby Tim, it’s the craziest thing to think about.” Dick mumbles, though his words do kind of trail off because he’s more interested in lightly sliding his hand over Tim’s belly, his thumb moving in small circles. “Besides, we haven’t really had much time together lately.”

“I know… I’m sorry Dick.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I get it, honestly, I do. There’s a lot going on and you and Jay have got a lot to figure out and I’m not going to hold it against you that you’re spending all your time together.” Dick looks back up at Tim and offers him a soft smile. “I just hope he realises how lucky he is to have you.”

Tim averts his eyes and chews his bottom lip with a sort of disbelieving chuckle. “I’m lucky to have him.” Dick hums and drops his hand back into his lap, slouching back into his chair. “Speaking of which, you wouldn’t happen to know where he is?”

“What he’s not still hauled up in your bed?” Dick asks with a raised eyebrow and a sideways smirk. Tim lets out a small sigh and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back against the table again.

“I’m just as surprised as you.” Any other day and that would be true. But with how things were last night, Tim’s really not sure he expected Jason to be in his room when he woke up. Maybe he should’ve checked Jason’s room, last night could’ve made Jason feel like maybe Tim didn’t want him around. He hates that he couldn’t man up to Jason or Damian and just talk to one of them. He needs that ability to vent otherwise he’ll implode, and he’s stopping himself from having an outlet.

“I haven’t seen him, could always try the cave, you know what he’s like.” Dick shrugs before he gets himself up from his chair. Tim nods and averts his gaze over to the doorway like he was hoping Jason would come walking in and wrap his arms around his waist and kiss him somewhere, or anywhere. Tim pushes himself away from the table and starts to head out of the room, even as he looks back over to Dick.

“Hey Dee, when you talk to the others, can you apologise for me?”

“You don’t have a reason to so, no, I won’t.” Dick looks back over to Tim and offers him a soft smile. Tim sighs and clicks his tongue, waving him off before he leaves the room.

Damian has probably already left to get to the office early to make up for the fact he took yesterday off. They basically choose their own hours around their meetings and conferences and all of the likes. That means he didn’t have to, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t. So, Tim doesn’t expect to find him anywhere. Probably a good thing considering his lack of ability to talk to him last night. Michael will likely still be in bed for another hour or so. Tim’s not really surprised to find Bruce and Alfred in the cave. Bruce is already dressed for work and will probably be leaving within the hour, and yet he and Alfred are chin deep in casework. Some things won’t ever change. The lack of noise in the cave leads Tim to think Jason isn’t down here. Still, he heads over to Alfred and Bruce, looking around like Jason might be hiding away somewhere. Alfred notices him first and offers him a kind smile.

“Good morning Master Tim,” Alfred’s greeting catches Bruce’s attention and he looks over his shoulder and offers Tim a similar smile to the one Alfred had. “Did you sleep well, sir?”

“I guess you could say that. Any chance that Jason’s been down here?” Tim slips his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and continues to look around, silently hoping that maybe Jason would hear him or something and come out of hiding.

“He left the manor about twenty or so minutes ago.” Bruce offers and Tim’s hands ball into tight fists in his pocket.

“Did he say where he was going?” Tim asks and Bruce shakes his head.

“I didn’t ask.”

Tim nibbles his bottom lip and drops his head forward. No need to overthink, Jason could be doing anything. Just because he left the day after he found out about Jack doesn’t mean he’s gone out to do anything crazy. There’s just a high possibility that that’s exactly what’s happened.

“Are you all right Master Tim?” Alfred’s voice pulls Tim from his thoughts and he realises that he’s just been staring off into the distance grinding his teeth and bumping his knee against a chair he didn’t even know was in front of him. He tries to flash Alfred and Bruce a calm smile, but he knows they can tell it’s fake.

“Fine, I uh… I’m just gonna…” He points over his shoulder, nodding like he was reassuring himself that’s what he wanted to do before he turns on his toes and makes an attempt to head back up to the manor.

“You should know by now that we’re familiar with the way you lie, Tim,” Bruce mumbles and despite himself, Tim stops in his tracks, cursing himself under his breath. He takes a moment, but he slowly turns back to face them. “What’s going on?”

“Just… a case that’s under control so long as Jason hasn’t thrown himself into it prematurely.” Tim admits. Bruce spares a glance at Alfred before he crosses his arms over his chest and looks back over to Tim.

“What kind of case?”

“The kind that we planned on talking to you about tonight and will still do so if Jason hasn’t-”

“Thrown himself into it prematurely?” Bruce finishes and Tim nods quickly.

“Exactly.” He flashes that fake smile again and Bruce sighs.

“This is why we don’t keep secrets.”

“Noted. I’ll remember that for future reference. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Tim starts to back up slowly, fumbling around in his pockets for his phone, pulling it out and waving it around like he was making sure Bruce and Alfred knew what it was, “I have a very unpredictable boyfriend to be calling.”

With that, he swiftly turns and makes his way from the cave before anything else can be said. He knew that if he stuck around too long Bruce would have more questions. He also knew that they had to talk to the rest of them about it, especially since they’re going to need Bruce and Dick to help out with their situation. But right now, was not the time to talk about it because they needed to properly discuss it. Though, there was no point in telling them anything if Jason jumps into it right now and messes it all up. Okay, Tim was really starting to over think this to the point that his hands were shaking. He needed to breathe, really, really needed to breathe.

He gets up Jason’s contact and without any hesitation, calls the number. He absentmindedly walks into the kitchen, listening as the call rings out. And when Jason doesn’t answer his heart rate picks up more than he knows it should. He didn’t have to jump to conclusions, but he definitely was. Dick’s gotten himself some coffee and a bowl of cereal, though he still looks pretty out of it as he stares ahead of himself, slowly chewing his food. Tim bites his bottom lip and sits himself down at the table, tapping his thumbs against his phone as he tries to tell himself to relax. Jason didn’t always go off and do stupid and rash things, he was actually really good at planning things out first. That wasn’t making Tim feel any better because he doesn’t know that Jason wasn’t up all night planning something out.

“Everything okay? You look… jumpy.” Dick asks after a moment of silence, a moment of Tim mumbling to himself in a low tone about the fact that Jason could be confronting a psychopath who regenerates.

“…No. I’m worried Jason’s… gone off and done something stupid.” Tim sighs. Dick raises an eyebrow.

“Like what? Not that I’m doubting Jason’s ability to act up but y’know. He hasn’t really had reason to lately.” Dick shrugs and Tim huffs out a fake laugh. Because maybe Dick didn’t think he did but that really wasn’t the case.

“Oh God, this is such a mess.” Tim groans, covering his face with his hands as he draws out a deep sigh. Dick looks up at him with spiked interest and crosses his arms over his chest as he leans back in his chair more.

“Listen… I have no idea what you’re freaking out about, but you know Jason isn’t going to do anything too stupid, especially now.” Dick offers, and Tim shakes his head, keeping his face hidden in his hands.

“You know now more than ever he’s going to feel like he  _ has _ to do stupid shit so that he can ‘protect’ me and this baby. You know what he’s like Dick. He’s always so worried about looking out for everyone else he forgets that he needs to look out for himself.”

“Sounds like someone I know. Oh wait, that’s everyone who lives under this roof.” Dick rolls his eyes and sits up straighter. “You’re worried, I get it, but Jason can handle himself and he knows how to pick his fights. He’s not going to do anything crazy.”

“You honestly have no idea what’s going on right now,” Tim mumbles, looking over at Dick with a small noise of distress trying to escape from his throat.

“I mean no, and I’m not gonna try and demand you to tell me or anything like that but it doesn’t matter what it is. Jason is going to be okay, you’re going to be fine, you need to stop worrying.” Dick shrugs again and Tim can’t stop that sound he was trying to hold back from falling from his mouth now.

“He didn’t answer his phone Dick, the only time he doesn’t do that is when he’s up to something he shouldn’t be,” Tim mutters, his distress growing more intense the more he thinks about it. He wasn’t doing anything useful by sitting around, moping about it to Dick.

“Or he’s driving?” Dick offers, holding his hand up a little. “I imagine answering a phone on a motorbike might be pretty hard.”

“I hooked up Bluetooth connection to his helmet years ago.” Tim mumbles lowly to himself and Dick lets out a sigh.

“Of course, you did.” Dick runs his hand over his face. “Look, you’re overthinking-”

“Noooo, you’re not meant to be out of bed yet.” Both Dick and Tim turn toward the doorway and relief falls over Tim at the sight of Jason. Tim pushes himself up from his seat and makes a pathetic hand gesture.

“Where have you been?” Tim demands.

“Out, clearly. I was hoping to get back before you were up.” Jason sighs and despite how much Tim was relieved that he was back, he still felt unsettled because he doesn’t know what Jason had been doing.

“What did you do? Why didn’t you answer my call?” Tim mutters in a low whisper. Jason’s shoulders drop at the realization of what Tim was talking about. Jason sighs and holds up a plastic bag he had that Tim had completely failed to notice. Tim stares at it for a moment before he slowly lifts his gaze to Jason’s face.

“I was being kind of a jerk yesterday and wanted to make it up to you.” Jason shrugs his shoulder slightly and averts his gaze. Tim’s taken back a little. If he was honest, Jason was being a little difficult yesterday, but Tim wouldn’t say he was being a jerk about anything. “And… I might have fucked up the Bluetooth in my helmet a while ago when I headbutted some douche and haven’t gotten around to asking you to fix it.” Jason mumbles and Tim lets out a small chuckle.

“Jason, you don’t have to make up for anything.” Tim offers Jason a soft smile.

“Let me be romantic for once okay?” Tim tries to stifle a chuckle at that. Because Jason knew how to be romantic, was actually probably the most romantic out of all of them when he wanted to be. “You haven’t had breakfast yet have you?”

“No.”

“Okay good, go back to bed, please?” Tim rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.

“How demanding of you.” Tim hums and Jason gives him a flat look.

“C’mon Babygirl, I planned this solely on the fact that you’ve been getting up later recently.” Jason huffs. Tim smiles up at him again and drops his hands to rest on Jason’s hips.

“Okay fine.” He stands up on his toes and pecks Jason’s lips. “Don’t be too long.”

“I won’t.”

Tim pulls back, his gaze finding Dick’s as he steps away from Jason. Dick offers him a soft smile as he cautiously moves over to them. Jason looks over to him as well and raises an eyebrow in question. “What?”

“Nothing, softie,” Dick smirks and Jason nudges him lightly before he moves past him and further into the kitchen. Dick steps up to Tim and taps his fingers against his hip.

“So, besides not apologising, is there anything else you want me to tell the team?” Dick asks. Tim chews his bottom lip and thinks about it.

“Tell Bart he can call me tonight. I know he’ll probably need to talk to me, about a lot of things.” Tim sighs. Dick doesn’t question it, he just nods and gestures an offering for a hug. Tim happily accepts and steps into his embrace. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Dick presses a quick kiss to Tim’s forehead as he pulls back. “I should probably get my ass moving.”

“Isn’t it always doing so anyway?” Tim asks with a raised eyebrow. Dick rolls his eyes and pokes Tim’s side lightly.

“Funny.” He deadpans.

“Guess I should get myself back into bed, for whatever reason.” Tim looks over his shoulder to Jason to see how he reacts. He doesn’t even flinch, much to Tim’s disappointment. Dick hums his agreement and the two of them leave the room together. Dick heads down to the cave while Tim makes his way back upstairs. Once he’s back in his room he sits against his headboard and starts playing around on his phone.

It doesn’t even take Jason five full minutes before he’s pushing Tim’s door open with his hip and stepping inside. Tim looks up at him, failing to hold back his loving smile as he takes in the sight of Jason carrying a tray with breakfast foods on it. Jason kicks the door shut fully and returns Tim’s smile before he makes his way over to the bed.

“I know, I know. It’s cheesy as hell and pretty stupid, especially since I messed it up and you were already out of bed, but it was the best thing I could think of.” Jason drops his gaze and nibbles his bottom lip nervously. Tim will never deserve Jason, especially this side of him. He was so sweet, kind and caring and it made Tim’s heart feel like it was being squeezed.

“It’s sweet Jay. Though I still don’t think you have anything to make up for.” Tim chuckles lightly and shifts so he’s propped up better. Jason clicks his tongue and steps up to the side of the bed, his gaze still focused on the tray.

“It probably would have been better if I actually made the food for you.” Jason mumbles and Tim shrugs and holds his hands out to take the tray from Jason.

“I’m not fussed, but I have to ask why you didn’t. You love cooking.” Tim places the tray on his lap and looks it over. Two small pancakes coated in maple syrup, two slices of French toast, a few rashers of bacon, two eggs, a chocolate waffle and cooked tomatoes. And on the side, a jam scone, apple cinnamon bun, a cup of hot chocolate and some blueberries. Tim can’t help but chuckle to himself when he realises how much food there was. “Wait, is this from-”

“That stupidly expensive breakfast bar you love that Kon never liked going to? Yes.” Jason confirms as he climbs into bed beside Tim. “And to answer your previous question, I thought about it. But I knew the food I made would never be as good as this stuff. Though the apple cinnamon bun was one of Alfred’s homemade ones and I made you the hot chocolate.”

“You didn’t have to do this Jason. But thank you.” Tim looks up at Jason with a smile. Jason leans in and kisses his cheek softly.

“You deserve to be treated every now and then.”

“You haven’t stopped treating me since you found out I was pregnant.” Tim points out.

“I’m making up for lost time.” Jason shrugs and settles back against the headboard more. Tim’s smile softens before he looks back to the tray in his lap and tries to figure out where to start.

“You realise I’m not going to eat all of this right?” He asks, going for the French toast first.

“You say that now but last week I watched you eat about that much food without a single complaint. But if you don’t finish it, I will.” Jason hums.

“Have you eaten?” Tim mumbles around a mouthful, holding back a satisfied groan. The food was always amazing.

“Yes, I’ve eaten, don’t worry about me.” Jason reaches up and tucks Tim’s hair back behind his ear for him.

“Would be more romantic if we were eating together.” Tim shrugs lightly with a teasing smirk across his lips. Jason shifts more into his side and nuzzles into Tim’s neck, enough for his light stubble to tickle his skin.

“That’s not how it works. You’re meant to give your partner breakfast in bed then go off to do some form of cleaning while they eat. But since there’s nothing I could possibly clean in this place that Alfred hasn’t already touched this morning, I’m just gonna cuddle you if that’s okay?” Jason mumbles softly. Tim tries to fight off his smile because his cheeks were going to start hurting if he didn’t stop.

“It was easier to put up with you when you were Mr Tough-guy.” Tim chuckles fondly.

“Rude, I’m still tough.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Tim hums as he continues to eat. They fall silent for a moment and Tim feels how Jason lightly kisses and nibbles at his neck, no doubt creating another mark. After a minute or so, Jason’s hand finds its way between the tray on Tim’s lap and his body to press against his belly. Tim pauses for a moment to just absorb the feeling before he turns his head enough to almost be able to look at Jason. It’s not easy when Jason doesn’t make an effort to remove his face from Tim’s neck. “You feel like you have to do that, don’t you?”

Jason doesn’t answer for a short while, long enough for Tim to think maybe he isn’t going to and he goes back to eating, ready to forget he even asked. Jason didn’t push him to talk last night, and he’s not going to push Jason to talk now.

“It’s not that I feel like I have to for myself, but… I suppose that’s the best way to describe it.” Jason mumbles in a low voice, lifting his head even as he keeps his gaze cast downward. Tim swallows the food he had in his mouth and leans back a little to look over at Jason better.

“If you’re not doing it for yourself, then what is it?”

“Well… I promised you I’d protect you, that I’d make sure nothing happened to them. Despite the fact it’s all I’ve been focusing on, it’s a constant reminder that this is my responsibility now. I do it to remind myself that whatever happens, I have to keep in mind that I have to put you first, no matter the circumstances.” Jason whispers.

“No, you don’t.” Tim tries to assure, but instantly Jason’s shaking his head as he lifts his gaze to look Tim directly in the eye.

“Yes, I do. I… I don’t want to fuck this up. This is my chance at having the family I told myself as a kid I’d never have. I’ll risk everything for it, I’ll put you before everyone else for it.” Determination, that’s the only thing Tim can read in Jason’s eyes. Nothing could change his mind about this, and Tim realises that he’s been set on this since the beginning. Tim swallows a little thickly, not sure how he’s meant to respond to that. It tugged at his heart, it made him feel an overwhelming amount of love and affection for Jason, but it also hurt to know the kind of extremes Jason would willingly go through to keep that promise. “I don’t care if they’re not biologically mine, I’ll be the father they need me to be, the father I know you want your kid to have.”

Tim swallows again, this time because he can feel tears forming in his eyes and he doesn’t want to cry right now. Maybe it’s an appropriate reaction, but he doesn’t need to give Jason a reason to gush over him. He drops his hand to cover Jason’s against his belly and leans forward to rest his forehead against Jason’s own. He bites his bottom lip and squeezes his eyes shut to try and force his eyes to stop watering. He still doesn’t know what the right response to that is, and so he steals Jason’s words from the night before; “I think you made my heart orgasm.”

A small chuckle escapes from Jason’s lips, his shoulders shaking lightly with the sound of it. He lifts his head enough to be able to look Tim in the eye again, smiling softly. “Thief.”

“God we’re such a mess.” Tim laughs, pulling back so he can wipe at his eyes with the end of his sleeve. Stupid tears thinking they had the right to free themselves.

“A hot mess at least.” Jason shrugs and Tim pushes at his chest lightly with another chuckle.

“You suck, why do you have to keep making me cry?”

“Just because your hormones are playing up.”

“God, just shut up so I can finish eating this without drowning it.” Tim mumbles, sucking in a deep breath to try and calm himself down. Jason smiles softly and leans into Tim’s side again, pressing another kiss to his cheek.

“One more thing?” Jason asks and Tim sighs and looks back to him as he shoves a heap of food into his mouth. Jason grins and pecks the corner of his mouth. “I love you.”

Tim makes a small noise, pouting around his mouthful as he tries to swallow it down. Jason chuckles and rests his head lightly on Tim’s shoulder. It takes a moment for Tim to be able to finish the mouthful properly. “I love you too, you butt.”

“Mmm, your butt is nicer.”

“Hey no, you said one more thing.” Tim pokes Jason’s chin and goes back to eating again. Jason smiles against Tim’s skin but does fall silent again.

In the time it takes Tim to finish eating, and he does finish it all despite himself, Jason hadn’t moved at all and so Tim thought he’d fallen asleep. The fact that his breathing had evened out as well had also suggested that maybe he’d drifted off. But as Tim finishes off the last of his hot chocolate, Jason lifts his head from Tim’s shoulder and sits himself up straighter.

“Told you you’d eat it all.” Jason smirks and Tim shoots him a light glare before he shakes his head and places his now empty cup back onto the tray.

“Yeah well… it looked like a lot more food until I started eating it.” Tim grumbles. Jason rubs his hand in small circles against Tim’s belly before he shifts to shuffle off the bed, reaching for the tray. “Wait, don’t go anywhere.”

“I can come back once I’ve cleaned up.” Jason raises a questioning eyebrow.

“Staaaaay.” Tim pouts, patting the bed next to him. “Please?”

“And you call Dick a child.” Jason shakes his head and turns to place the tray on the drawers before he crawls back into bed.

“He is, you can’t deny it.” Tim sighs contently when Jason pulls him into his chest, lightly running his hand through his hair.

“You just proved you’re childish too.”

“We’re all pretty childish, Jay.” Tim points out.

“Only on my bad days.” Jason mumbles softly and Tim smirks, shaking his head lightly.

“Sure Jaybird.”

They lapse into silence again, though this time it’s different. It feels a little stiff, and Tim knows it’s because of the unspoken words that sit awkwardly between them. The things Tim couldn’t say last night, the endless possibilities of what it could be that Tim needs to say floating around Jason’s head and making him anxious. They needed to work over these walls they kept building for themselves, better yet they needed to stop building those walls. Tim knew it was mostly his fault. He’s reserved and scared to put too much trust into someone else again because he’s still not okay yet. But he can trust Jason, he knows that, he wants to be able to believe that Jason won’t break that trust, but he can’t help the doubt that sits in his chest. He’s allowed to take baby steps, but he has to take them, regardless.

“I’m sorry about last night.” Tim finally manages to mumble, his own voice sounding foreign as it wavers. Jason offers Tim a soft smile, lifting his hand to lightly run the back of his fingers down Tim’s cheek.

“Don’t be, you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yes, I do. I should be able to talk to you and last night I wouldn’t, and I know it bothers you when I shut down like that.”

“Do you know why it bothers me?” Jason cuts in before Tim can continue on ranting. Tim pauses before he shakes his head slowly. “It bothers me because I’m the reason you do it.”

“No, you’re not.” Tim defends quickly.

“You’re gonna try and tell me it was Kon, aren’t you? But Kon didn’t start this, I did.” Jason sighs and Tim pulls away enough so that he can sit up again, running his hand through his hair. He tugs lightly on the strands, closing his eyes and letting out his own sigh.

“You didn’t Jason. I’m not going to blame you for what you did back then. You were hurting, you were scared, you thought the one person who’d actually given a shit about you had replaced you like you meant nothing. And despite how much you wanted to hurt Bruce, we both know you couldn’t get yourself to go through with it. And I was the person stupidly standing between you and the life Bruce had promised you when he took you in.”

“It doesn’t matter what I was going through, there’s no excuse for what I did to you. I had no right to take it out on you, to even involve you when you had nothing to do with it.”

“It had everything to do with me. I wanted to be Robin so desperately, I ignored Bruce when he turned me down because I was too blind to see it hurt him having someone else try and be you.” Tim shakes his head and looks back to Jason, watching as he pushes himself up as well. “And when you came back I didn’t even think about how it must have made you feel to see me trying to make the world believe you hadn’t died, like anyone could wear that badge and it wouldn’t matter. It did matter, it still matters. I should never have been Robin, so don’t you dare blame yourself for what you did. I deserved it, I never earned that title.”

Jason stares blankly at Tim as the younger reels from the flood of whatever it was he was feeling right now. Sadness for Jason, anger and disappointment in himself, guilt, shame. It was a flood that he couldn’t keep up with. He shakes with an exhale of breath, closing his eyes to steady himself again.

“I’m sorry I shut you out Jason. I don’t want to, but I do it and there’s no one to blame but myself. Last night… all day yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said about Damian. And I know you were joking, but there’s nothing funny about it because you were right.”

Tim didn’t think he would ever see the day that he wouldn’t be able to read anything in Jason’s eyes, and here he was. It was like staring back at a blank canvas. The steel blue of Jason’s irises held nothing, and, in that moment, Tim was terrified. But he manages to swallow the lump in his throat and tell himself he needs to explain the situation.

“It’s no secret that we’ve all… we’ve messed around with each other and it’s whatever, but… Ugh, it’s hard because he’s not here and I feel like he should be.” Tim rubs his hands over his face, making a distressed sound.

“I guess it’s because there’s always been that frustration between us for so long that once we started to get along, all that pent-up emotion had nowhere to go and so it needed an outlet. When Damian came to me about it, I didn’t think anything of it. There’s no, feelings to it it’s just… I want to say it’s like what you and Roy have but it’s not because it’s more than sexual attraction for you guys. It’s a similar premise though.

“But it’s mainly one-sided and we’re both okay with that, Damian’s known for a long time that it wasn’t forever. But there’s never really been any kind of closure for it and it’s been months since we last did anything and now things are changing, and I think he doesn’t know where he stands and if I’m honest I don’t know where he does either.”

Tim sucks in a shaky breath and forces himself to stop rambling. Jason’s nodding slowly and Tim really wished he hadn’t looked away because now he felt really bad about it. The silence that follows starts to eat away at him ruthlessly. “Please say something.” Tim uselessly squeaks.

Jason swallows and lifts his gaze, though he looks past Tim for a long time before he manages to turn his attention back to him. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It didn’t feel like we had to. And… the fewer people knew the less likely Kon would find out. I didn’t want Kon hurting Damian just because he needed an outlet and I chose to help him with that. I didn’t think it’d turn into what it did, and I don’t think Dami did either.”

“Wait… you said there are no feelings, so why is this a problem for us?”

“It isn’t, Jay it’s not going to be a problem for us it’s just I don’t know how to talk to him about it. Because he knows for me that it didn’t mean anything. It was just… it was pent-up, it was fun.”

“But it means something to him.” Jason mumbles and Tim shrugs a little.

“Sort of. It’s sexual attraction, no feelings. He’s not attracted to me as a person.” Tim’s jumping around the term, because he’s the only one who knows, and he doesn’t want to betray Damian’s trust, nor is it his right to out him like that. Damian hasn’t told anyone else because to him it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t want a label, he’s happy with how things were, but that was changing.

“So, what, he’s just attracted to your body?” Jason asks and Tim’s glad he didn’t have to say it himself.

“Basically.”

“…I still don’t see why this is a problem.” Jason mumbles and Tim drops his gaze.

“Well… it’s not but last night I snubbed Damian off in regards of talking about it and then I snubbed you off because I know that it has to stop but I don’t want to hurt him or mess things up between us. And I’ve been trying to get it out of the way for ages now but you bringing it up made me realise it’s been going on for far too long.”

“It doesn’t have to stop, I’m okay with it. I mean… like I guess I was just overthinking and I thought you were gonna say something about wanting to be with him or something. It’d be pretty hypocritical of me to hate you for sleeping with Damian when I’m gonna keep sleeping with Roy.”

“No, it has to stop for my own sake and for his. I love Damian but… I can’t keep doing this. It was fun, but I don’t want to continue this, and I know part of him understands that, as soon as it sunk in that I was pregnant he realised that it wasn’t going to happen again. But I don’t want it to just stop without us talking about it. That’s not fair on him. And there’s so much going on already and I’ve been trying to figure out how to bring it up and I can’t get myself to do it because like you said… I see it when he looks at me like that and… it’s hard.”

“…How long has this been going on?” Jason asks. Tim sighs and curls more into himself.

“Just over a year. I guess… once I realised Kon didn’t love me.” Tim shrugs and Jason nods.

“I think you need to stop overthinking it, baby. Damian is going to understand. Like you said, you’re having a baby now and things are changing between us. He knew it was temporary, he’s probably not as hung up on it as you think he is.” Jason offers and Tim bites his bottom lip.

“But what if he is?” Tim asks in distress. Jason gives him a soft smile.

“If I know Damian, he’s not.”

\- - -

Tim happily ignores the topic for the rest of the day, more than relieved that Damian was at work so he didn’t have a reason to try and talk to him about it. He easily distracts himself with the work Bruce had sent him, despite how little there was to do. He also took it upon himself to try and search out for more information regarding Jack. He doesn’t find anything useful, not surprisingly. But for the most of the day, he keeps himself hauled up in the cave staring at a computer screen.

He’s mostly aware of Jason in the background, hearing him leave and enter, the fact that the noise picks up when he’s working on Michael’s bike some more. Despite how much noise usually irritates Tim, when Jason heads out for a few hours the silence feels like it strangles him. Alfred constantly comes down and asks about his work before he’s returning back to whatever work he’s set himself for the day. It’s nearly two in the afternoon, Jason hasn’t come home as far as Tim knows when Dick gets back.

“Didn’t know you were gonna be out all day.” Tim smirks over to him, knowing full well Dick hadn’t meant to be. The lack of a smile on Dick’s face and the fact that he looks exhausted makes Tim’s face drop too. “Everything okay?”

“It is now. Just so you know, it’s a good thing you didn’t go to them about it.” Dick sighs and runs his hand through his hair as he steps over to Tim, still in his Nightwing suit. He pulls off his mask and chucks it onto the desk, dropping himself heavily into a chair as he lets out a loud sigh, slouching horribly with his head thrown back over the back of the chair.

“What happened?”

“Well, I knew Kon was gonna be there obviously and I decided to talk to him first just to get it out of the way. He actually… he wasn’t bad. He kept apologising and I know it means nothing but if I’m honest… he doesn’t look that good. Like it’s finally all crashing down on him what he did. He said he wants to talk to you, I told him he should probably talk to Jason first.

“Once that was dealt with I thought I’d tell them about you first, that way they could focus on the case better because it’s not like, ‘here’s your assignment, also Tim’s pregnant, bye’. Y’know? So I tried to explain it calmly to them, exactly what you told us, what I told Wally, but it wasn’t easy. Straight up they had so many questions that I either couldn’t or didn’t want to answer. And it was getting pretty overwhelming, Bart was freaking out about so many things.”

“I knew he would.” Tim sighs and rubs at his arm. “Bart’s my best friend, I knew this wasn’t going to sit well with him.”

“That was the least of my problems. Because then obviously Cassie turns around and is all ‘Kon and Tim are gonna have a baby’ and that’s when Kon stepped in. I didn’t expect him too, I thought he’d just sit there silently and let it play out. He straight up said you two weren’t together anymore and that the baby might not be his.

“Everyone just fell silent and I was ready to take control of the conversation again but Kon kept going. He told them, he admitted to the things he’d done to you, and I hadn’t expected him to, I wasn’t even planning on saying anything about it because that’s for you to explain to them, but he just admitted to it. Then Cassie snapped. And that was not fun. Kon just took what she threw at him, which is as unsettling as it sounds.”

Tim grimaces at the thought. He could imagine what a fight between the two would have been like, but if Cassie was just giving it her all and Kon was taking it, he can’t even picture how bad it would have been.

“It took the rest of us what felt like forever to try and talk her down from it and eventually Rachel intervened and took Cass down before she could beat Kon to a pulp. He sat around silently like a kicked dog for the rest of the time I was there. I finished explaining everything to them once they’d all calmed down. Bart… kind of shut down on himself and even left the room for a moment. He wouldn’t talk to me about anything afterwards.” Dick sighs and sits himself up straighter, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“It took them a few hours to collect themselves and calm down enough for me to finally be able to talk about the case. As soon as I was done, Kon left. And not long after Bart and Jaime followed. Cassie had a lot of questions, I answered as many as I could.”

Tim sighs softly and rubs at the corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He looks up at Dick and shifts forward in his seat, resting his hand lightly on Dick’s knee. “Thank you for doing that. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“It would’ve been harder on you.” Dick shrugs and Tim drops his gaze.

“Kon… he didn’t say anything to you before he left, did he?” Dick shakes his head.

“No, but… he did talk to Bart, I don’t know what was said but it didn’t set anything off.” Dick lightly rests his hand on Tim’s. “I have a feeling you’re going to be hearing from or seeing a lot of people over the next few days. I told them that obviously they can come to you but not to be overbearing because it’s not fair on you. I think they understood that.”

“God… I knew it wasn’t going to be fun having to tell everyone. Did… did anyone look… y’know, pissed or disgusted?”

“Not from what I could tell. Bart was the only person I couldn’t really read.”

“Bart’s… Bart’s never hidden anything from me. I know everything about him and… he thought he knew everything about me.” Tim mumbles, pulling his hand away from Dick as he pulls his legs up onto his chair and curls in on himself. “It was the one secret I was ready to die with.”

“I don’t think he’s mad with you. I think he’s upset, but I know he won’t hate you.”

“You told him to call me?”

“I did.” Dick nods and Tim closes his eyes and takes in a shaky breath.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it Babybird.” Dick offers Tim a soft smile that Tim weakly returns.

Tim doesn’t expect Bart to call him, he doubts he’ll hear from him for a few days. But eventually, he’ll have to face this, even if he’s the one to go to Bart first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	36. Need

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, the internet was down for most of yesterday :/

Tim hadn’t realised he’d drifted off to sleep until he felt the shaking of the body under his head. He slowly blinks his eyes open, completely disorientated for a moment. As soon as his eyes focus, he remembers where he is and what was happening. He and Dick had ended up back in the manor and chose to watch a movie, one of Tim’s choosing, not that Dick complained. Tim was tired of the crappy romcoms, his own life feeling like it was turning into one with each passing day.

He hadn’t meant to let himself rest against Dick, but eventually, the inviting promise of a cuddle was too strong, and he’d happily curled up in Dick’s lap and rested his head against his chest. That chest was shaking lightly with a laugh now, which had stirred Tim from his unexpected nap. He stared a little dazed over at the TV, realising the movie was still playing but almost finished, the volume turned down far enough that Tim could barely make out what was being said. However, he couldn’t miss the whispers that were being mumbled around him and he slowly lifts his head and looks to his side.

“Morning sleepy head.” Jason offers Tim a soft smile, reaching out to lightly pat Tim’s leg. Tim turns to look back at Dick, feeling his thumbs rubbing into his side slowly.

“Sorry,” Tim grumbles, his voice croaky from the short amount of sleep he’d fallen into.

“Don’t be, you obviously needed it.” Dick’s smile is kind and sweet, one that Tim has always pinned as Dick’s signature smile. It makes the corners of his mouth curl upward and his eyes look like they shine. There’s an innocence to the look that makes Dick look younger than all of them. “You are heavier than the last time you slept in my lap though.”

“Yeah yeah, Jason likes pointing out that I’m getting heavier,” Tim mumbles, his eyes still not wanting to open fully yet. He forces himself to sit upright, so he isn’t tempted to curl back into Dick’s chest and nap some more. “I’m not even two months along yet.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t exactly a healthy weight to begin with. This extra weight is actually normal for you to have.” Dick points out.

“I think he almost weighs as much as he should for his age and size.” Jason hums as he lightly runs his hand over Tim’s thigh.

“You keep feeding me like you have been and I’ll have to work off more than just baby fat when this is over,” Tim mumbles before a yawn catches up on him.

“Like you’ll let yourself gain excess weight.” Jason rolls his eyes and settles back more into the couch. Dick attempts to pull Tim back into his chest but Tim fights against his grasp.

“No, I’m not going to cuddle you anymore, I’ll fall asleep again.”

“Exactly, there’s no harm in letting yourself rest Tim.” Dick sighs.

“Not your boyfriend,” Jason grumbles, patting his own lap as an invitation. Tim can’t deny that the idea is tempting.

“I’m allowed to cuddle him, Jason, stop being greedy.” Dick complains, sitting up enough to wrap his arms around Tim more and pull him closer into his body. Tim chuckles but stops fighting, knowing that he’s not going anywhere now. Tim looks over to Jason to see him pouting as Dick leans back against the arm of the couch.

“Sorry baby.” Tim chuckles softly and Jason crosses his arms over his chest and looks away.

“You will be later.” He teases, and Tim rolls his eyes. He nuzzles back into Dick’s chest, resting his head under his chin. Dick’s hand comes to lightly rest against Tim’s belly, getting a soft smile from Tim.

“Are Bruce and Damian home?” Tim asks, and Dick shakes his head.

“Not yet.”

Tim nods before he spares a glance over at Jason, who’s looking back at him with a knowing stare. Tim knows that Jason’s going to try and get him to talk to Damian, and he will, but first, they all need to talk about Jack, before things fall out of their hands.

\- - -

Tim manages not to fall back asleep and the three of them finish watching what little there was of the movie left. Not that Tim’s really paying attention to it. His mind keeps wandering all over the place to different thoughts and distracts him from what’s happening on screen.

When the movie is finished, he’s able to free himself from Dick’s arms and dodges getting grabbed by Jason as well. Despite the fact that he’d only had his lunch not long before Dick had gotten back, he was feeling a little peckish. So, he heads to the kitchen and looks around for something to snack on. It’s not long before he’s joined by Jason, not really that surprising. He’s managed to find a half-empty bag of  _ Thins _ , light and tangy. Maybe not the best snack, but one he was going to enjoy having. Jason steps up to Tim and slowly wraps his arms around his waist as he rests his chin on Tim’s shoulder.

“So,” Jason hums softly, kisses over where the bullet wound in Tim’s shoulder still sat, basically completely healed by now.

“Hmm?” Tim mumbles around a mouthful, letting Jason know he was listening.

“I was thinking,”

“Uh oh.” Tim teases with a light chuckle. Jason shakes his head and starts to slowly sway them slightly.

“You doubt me so much, it’s kind of hurtful.” Jason sighs as he lifts his head. He pulls his hands back to hold Tim’s waist, still swaying a little. “Anyway, I was thinking about tonight.”

“What about it?” Tim asks, having his suspicions about where Jason might be taking this.

“I went and spoke to Ben.”

“So that’s where you went.”

“Yeah, I kinda needed to apologise to him. Especially since I stabbed him. I know that once everyone’s home, we’re gonna have to talk about what’s going on-”

“And let me guess, you want me to talk to Dami while you and Mike explain it to Bruce and Dick?” Tim looks over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow as he works more chips into his mouth. Jason watches him for a second before a small smile turns up the corners of his lips.

“That’s a good idea actually, I hadn’t been thinking that.”

“Dammit.” Tim sighs and Jason chuckles, leaning in to kiss Tim’s cheek.

“No, what I was going to say was that once we’ve talked about it we’re probably gonna go out and deal with it, and it could take all night.” Jason lowers his voice a little and uses his hold on Tim to turn him around so that they’re facing each other. Tim raises a questioning eyebrow and slowly continues to eat his chips. He’s already a little suspicious about this because he knew they weren’t going to go out tonight. No, they were going to go out during the day to make it easier on them. But he doesn’t correct Jason just yet, he wants to see where this is going.

“Your point?”

“And it’s going to be really dangerous and I might not return.” Jason keeps drawling on, his smile slowly morphing into more of a smirk.

“You don’t sound concerned about that.” Tim points out, knowing  _ exactly _ what Jason was trying to get at.

“This might be the last chance I get to have your beautiful body in my hands.”

“I’d have thought that if that was something you were worried about you’d be more romantic about it.” Tim shakes his head lightly, turning enough to place the bag of chips on the counter. “You know you could just say it.”

Tim lifts his hand, going to lick the flavouring from his fingers. Only Jason’s hand grabs hold of his wrist before his fingers can reach his lips and he’s lifting Tim’s hand higher to his own. Tim bites his bottom lip and stares blatantly as Jason sucks his fingers into his mouth. Tim shifts his stance, unintentionally pushing himself up against Jason more as a small, lustful exhale escapes him.

“God Jay.” He almost silently mumbles. Jason doesn’t stop returning Tim’s stare until he’s leaning in, pulling Tim’s fingers from his mouth so that he can kiss Tim instead. His hand releases Tim’s wrist and comes to cup his cheek, his other hand lightly squeezing Tim’s hip. Tim doesn’t want to admit that when Jason pulls back not even a minute later that he was panting a little desperately, but there was no mistaking the hitch to his breath.

“You know how the other day you mentioned… that topping while you’re heavily pregnant is gonna be basically impossible and that you wanted to get that out of your system while you still could?” Jason asks. Tim bites his lip again with a wide smirk, his hands finding their way to Jason’s hips.

“You didn’t seem that interested when I brought it up,” Tim admits, and Jason returns his smirk.

“Hey, even I know when I shouldn’t let myself look desperate.” Jason chuckles lightly.

“If I’d known, I might have fucked you right then and there.” Tim shrugs, dropping his gaze to Jason’s lips when his words get a small sound from Jason.

“Who the hell gave you the right?” Jason surges forward again and kisses Tim hard and deep. Tim returns his force, though he doesn’t let the kiss linger for too long. He digs his fingers into Jason’s hips and pushes him away, just enough to pull back from Jason’s lips, despite the noise that gets him.

“Next time, skip the bullshit and get straight to the point.” Tim puts a slight growl to his voice, just because he knows Jason likes it.

“Will do.” Jason huffs, sliding his hand down Tim’s arm to grasp his hand tightly. Tim smirks again and moves with Jason as he turns and starts making his way from the kitchen.

A minute later and they’re in his room and Tim pushes Jason up against the door before it’s even closed properly, causing it to slam a little with the force. Jason doesn’t complain when Tim’s mouth is instantly back on his. He pulls Jason’s hips toward his own, grinding against him as he bites at Jason’s lips and runs his tongue along the back of Jason’s teeth.

“Baby, fuck.” Jason moans helplessly, tipping his head back against the door when Tim grinds harder against him.

“I’m surprised you didn’t want to beg for me to fuck you in the kitchen.” Tim purrs. Jason bites his lip and tightens his own hold on Tim’s hips.

“Fuck. You know I wouldn’t’ve had a problem with that.” He smirks, wide and sinister.

“You like an audience don’t you, Todd?”

“When it comes to you? I want everyone to know what they’re missing out on.” Jason says it with a groan on the end of his words.

“You know they haven’t missed out on anything.”

“Oh, but they have. No one gets you worked up like I do.” Jason, in turn, purrs as well, causing Tim to groan softly.

“Smug. You’re lucky that it’s true otherwise I might’ve had to prove you wrong.” Tim breathes, his lips brushing lightly over Jason’s with his words.

“Fuck, you need to stop putting thoughts like that in my head,” Jason mumbles, licking his lips almost desperately. Tim smirks, knowing full well how Jason worked. If Tim’s honest, he’s surprised that Jason has never gone further than a threesome, because he knew that Jason was one for quantity when it came to sex. He makes a mental note to ask Jason about his ideal orgy at some point because he can only imagine the kind of thing Jason would love to be a part of. But right now, it was just them, and he was going to make sure Jason never forgot why he was with Tim.

“I think I know how to make you think about something else.” Tim purrs, his hands instantly moving from Jason’s hips to his front, working on getting his jeans off. Despite how tight they are, together they make quick work of them and Jason’s able to kick them off while Tim’s hand slides into the front of his underwear. He softly sucks at Jason’s throat as he slowly strokes Jason’s cock. Jason’s fingers dig roughly into Tim’s hips as he tries to pull the younger closer. Tim stands his ground and keeps the space between them as he bites into Jason’s skin.

Tim easily pulls Jason’s stupid boxer briefs down enough to hook the front of them up under Jason’s balls, hearing the soft slap of Jason’s hard cock springing up against his belly. Tim smirks to himself, keeping his hands on the hem of Jason’s underwear as he keeps his mouth on his neck. When he feels Jason’s hand fall from his hip, he bites harder to keep him from touching himself. Jason’s hand returns to his side in a second, his grip so tight it could bruise. Tim pulls back from bruising up Jason’s skin and looks up at him, still with his smirk in place.

Keeping his gaze locked with Jason’s, Tim drops down to his knees while he licks his lips. Jason bites his lip, watching as Tim kisses across his navel. Tim knows that his breath his fanning over Jason’s cock if the way Jason squirms doesn’t prove it then the light twitching of his cock does. Tim doesn’t even blink as he slowly -so painfully slow- runs his tongue over the head of Jason’s cock. Jason’s hands cradle his head, but he isn’t holding onto him at all, it’s just like he was supporting Tim’s head. Tim knows that as soon as he gets his mouth properly on Jason’s cock that he’ll have his hair pulled.

Tim keeps teasing Jason’s cock, letting the head sit against his lips as he lightly pants, slowly licking down the length of it and kissing the tip like he has no intention of sucking it at all. Tim still has hold of the top of Jason’s underwear to keep him steady, his hands pressed a little into the tops of Jason’s thighs. So, he feels when they start to shake lightly under his fists which makes him smirk wider. He didn’t expect Jason to get this worked up as quickly as he has. But still, Tim drags it out, breaking eye contact as he tilts his head and runs his tongue down the side of Jason’s cock.

“Fuck baby, you need to stop doing that.” Jason pants out softly. Tim tries to hold back his smirk as he intentionally pauses to lick even lighter and slower over the head of Jason’s cock. Jason whimpers, loud and desperate as his hips jolt against Tim’s hands.

“Suck my cock baby, please.” And Tim knows that Jason will beg, but he’s never heard Jason get so desperate that his voice wavers and even cracks a little. Hearing it and knowing that he’s the cause of that makes Tim’s own cock twitch fully.

“You’re so needy, Jay.” Tim hums, lifting his head to meet Jason’s gaze, purposely letting his bottom lip get caught on the tip of Jason’s cock. Jason bites back a moan as he balls his hands into fists against the back of Tim’s head.

“I’ve been wanting you for years, and now I finally have you and all I want to do is have you in my hands every single day. And you’re being the biggest fucking tease you can be right now.” Jason’s voice comes out a little heavy like he couldn’t get enough oxygen in his lungs.

“Oh, I can do better.” Tim challenges and Jason full on whines, no shame or restraint and louder then Tim thought Jason would let himself get.

“I don’t doubt it, but please don’t.” Jason pleads. Tim chuckles lightly and sits back a little, enough so that Jason can watch as he pulls the front of his own pants and underwear down enough to take his cock into his hand. Jason’s chest heaves with a deep intake of air as he watches Tim, leaning back on his hunches as he slowly strokes his own cock, leaving Jason’s cock completely abandoned.

Jason bites his bottom lip again, making low noises in the back of his throat. Tim fully body rolls his hips into his hand, making a point to pant a little heavier then he needs to. Because he knows that Jason can get off on just watching him touch himself, knows that if he works just right he can make Jason come without even touching him. Jason’s a sucker for the sounds Tim makes and the way he moves his body and Tim knows it. But Tim isn’t always cruel and so he doesn’t plan on using that to his advantage today. Without even blinking, Tim runs his thumb over the wet slit of his cock, smearing pre-come over the digit before he lifts his hand.

“Fuck.” Jason pants as he watches Tim slowly suck his thumb into his mouth, licking it clean.

And in one fluid motion, Tim pushes himself back up onto his knees, his hand coming to grip Jason’s cock to slide down the length as he works his mouth over the head. Tim doesn’t catch what Jason says, because he’s too focused on the feeling of Jason’s fingers tugging at his hair and the taste of Jason in his mouth. He doesn’t hesitate to start slowly bobbing his head over half the length of Jason’s cock, stroking his fist firmly along the rest. He keeps his movements slow and firm, his eyes shut lightly as he works his tongue around the head. He knew just how to curl his tongue to get Jason’s toes curling and his thighs shaking.

“God Babygirl, look at you.” Jason moans softly, grinding his teeth hard because if he keeps biting his lip he’ll surely split the skin.

Tim hums and pulls back, not even giving Jason the satisfaction of looking at him as he gives Jason’s cock a few rough and full strokes before he’s taking him back into his mouth. He still had his other hand holding Jason’s underwear in place, meaning that he could tilt his hand slightly and graze his knuckles against the underside of Jason’s balls. Which he does, of course, making Jason’s hips jolt more against his face.

Tim keeps his pace slow and full until Jason’s slouched back against the door more, thighs uncontrollably trembling and chest heaving with heavy pants of breath. And when Jason’s hands go from tugging Tim’s hair to gripping it so tight it almost hurts, his knuckles pushing against Tim’s skull, that’s when Tim changes his pace. He drops his hand from Jason’s cock in the same beat as he takes in a deep breath, relaxing his jaw to deepthroat Jason. And instantly Jason’s whole body is tensing, and his hands push at Tim’s head harder, his hips seeming to vibrate against Tim’s hands. And the sound Tim gets, it’s enough to have his cock  _ leaking _ . Tim holds himself there, with the head of Jason’s cock against the back of his throat as he takes hold of Jason’s underwear and pulls them down fully. When Jason whimpers, Tim pulls back, letting his cock fall from his mouth as he regains his breath and spares a glance up at Jason.

Jason already looks like he’s been wrecked, his hair matted to his forehead and his bottom lip bruise bitten to the point it’s swollen. Tim notices that Jason’s already sweating, the outline of his chest more visible through his grey shirt because of it. And he’s panting so heavily that his breath rattles slightly every so often. Tim holds back a smirk, trying to keep his face as blank as possible as he licks his lips, takes in another breath and without breaking eye contact, slowly works his mouth back over Jason’s cock. He stares straight up at Jason, unblinking as he takes him back down his throat, managing to hold eye contact until Jason’s tipping his head back and moaning when Tim swallows around him.

Tim drops his gaze then, letting his eyes fall closed as he starts to slide back and forth along the full length of Jason’s cock. He keeps his movements slow still as he lightly runs his hands up Jason’s thighs. He turns his hand up between Jason’s legs, pushing it back to press his finger against the rim of Jason’s hole. And without a second of hesitation, Jason shifts his stance to spread his legs enough to accompany the idea. Tim keeps bobbing his head as he slides his finger over Jason’s rim, pressing enough to tease at the idea of working the digit inside.

“Please.” Jason sighs, his head still tipped back against the door. Tim pulls back again, letting Jason’s wet cock fall from his mouth. He pulls his hand back as well and works his middle finger into his mouth, sucking on it to slick it up with his spit. The moment he’s not sucking on his finger he has Jason’s cock back in his mouth. And without anymore teasing he presses his finger up into Jason’s hole. Jason’s still tense, so it’s not as easy of a slide as Tim had been expecting, but he doesn’t take a moment to think on it and instantly starts fucking his finger into Jason at the same pace he sucks his cock.

Jason mumbles something unintelligible as he drops one hand away from Tim’s hair. Tim doesn’t open his eyes, so he doesn’t know what Jason’s doing with it now that he’s not tugging on Tim’s hair with it, but he feels Jason start to slowly rock his hips against his face and hand. Tim doesn’t stop him, in fact, encourages the movement with small humming sounds as he starts to move his mouth over Jason faster. Tim drops his other hand back to his cock and starts to stroke himself, squeezing around the base of his cock when Jason’s hips jolt roughly against his face. He pulls back from deep throating Jason and suckles the head of his cock. Jason tightens his grip on Tim’s hair and pushes his head back down his cock. Tim happily takes it, letting Jason steadily fuck his face.

“Your mouth is so good, Tim.” Jason groans, his other hand returning to Tim’s head so that he can guide him back and forth easily. Tim moans at the praise as he squirms on the floor. Jason could say that every day for the rest of their lives and Tim would never get sick of hearing it. In return, Tim curls his finger inside Jason, fucking it into him harder. Jason keens low in his throat, pushing himself back more against Tim’s finger as he starts to push it in harder and faster.

It doesn’t take long from there for Jason to lose his ability to move his hips right, the stimulation from both sensations causing him to become a blubbering mess. Tim looks up at him, watching as his head drops forward and his arms and legs shake, how his eyes keep falling closed and he doesn’t stop panting. He’s probably worked up enough that Tim could make him come if he wanted to. Instead, he pulls off Jason’s cock again, panting himself as he works a second finger into Jason. And Jason throws his head back, his skull bouncing off the wood of the door as one of his hands abandon Tim’s hair again to splay out against the door, his hips moving erratically because Tim knew exactly how to move his fingers just right.

“Look at you, so worked up already and I’m barely getting started.” Tim purrs, his voice a little gruff from the throat fucking. It didn’t matter, he wore his ability to deepthroat any cock without gagging like a damn medal, so a little bit of a gravely voice didn’t bother him.

“You love this, don’t you? When I act all submissive even though I’m the one in control. I’ve got you around my finger, quite literally.” And to empathise the point Tim pushes his fingers hard into Jason, as deep as he can reach and curls them hard into Jason’s prostate. Jason’s whole body jolts as Tim deliberately, like a pulse, moves his fingers against the gland but only lightly, enough to get a reaction but not enough to be the pleasure he knows Jason’s craving. Jason curses under his breath, panting as he bucks his hips back against Tim’s hand, trying to get that toe curling feeling again. But Tim knows how to work him, knows how to prevent Jason from getting what he wants. “It gets you so hot, doesn’t it Jaybird?”

“Fuck Tim.” Jason grits his teeth as he reaches back and grabs hold of Tim’s wrist, trying to hold him in place. He whimpers, softly and pathetically when Tim straightens up his fingers and turns them enough so that there’s little to no contact with Jason’s prostate.

“Say it, Jason, tell me I’m right.” Tim makes a point to breathe heavily over Jason’s throbbing cock, teasing at the head with his tongue lightly.

“Yes,  _ yes _ , fuck. You get me so hard baby.” Jason drops his head forward again, holding back his noises as he stares down at Tim with lust filled eyes. Tim’s cock twitches at the sight and he exhales a shaky breath. Because Jason’s eyes could pierce through his soul and melt him from the inside out and he’d happily let it happen. So long as the last thing he got to see were those beautiful eyes.

“Tell me how much you love it, Jason.” Tim still manages to keep his voice steady, despite how much Jason’s stare and his almost silent whimpers make his cock leak with even more pre-come.

“So much -fuck- love it so much, what you do to me,” Jason trails off, his hips working uselessly against Tim’s hand to get friction he knows he can’t achieve on his own. Tim smirks, tilting his head enough to press his lips to the side of Jason’s cock as he curls his fingers down into Jason again. Jason moans and there’s no attempt to stifle it at all like he wants anyone who happens to be in ear range to know that Tim was making a mess out of him.

“What do you say?” Tim asks, keeping his lips pressed to the hot flesh of Jason’s cock as he talks, making Jason squirm even more.

“Thank you.” Jason whines, letting go of Tim’s wrist so he can instead grip the base of his cock, squeezing it hard.

“Good boy.” Tim sucks just the tip of Jason’s cock back into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the head as he goes back to fucking Jason with his fingers. Now that Jason was worked up enough that the slightest of touches to his body could get him whimpering, Tim knew he had to play his cards right to ensure Jason didn’t come before he wanted him to. That was the thing with Jason, give him control and he can hold out for hours, but if you push him around and show him you’re the boss, he can come from the right tone of voice. Tim loved that about Jason more than he’ll ever admit.

Tim lets Jason’s cock fall from his mouth again as Jason starts to stroke himself, still helplessly rocking his hips back against Tim’s fingers like he was stuck perpetually in a loop and couldn’t break free. Tim averts his gaze from Jason, over to his bed. He knows it’s only a few feet away, but he’s already down on his knees and he really couldn’t care any less. He slides his fingers from Jason’s hole, earning himself a desperate whine before he reaches up and grabs hold of Jason’s waist and pulls him down with him. Jason doesn’t complain, happily dropping to his knees and in the same movement Tim twists and pushes him down fully onto the floor, pinning him down.

“Y’know, the beds right there.” Jason pants, his tone teasing despite the fact that he was still squirming in Tim’s hold.

“You’re right where I want you.” Tim purrs, leaning over Jason to finally kiss him again.

Jason’s legs wrap around his waist, his hands pinned down beside his head so he can’t fully wrap himself around Tim, even though it’s what he wants. Tim knows this, but he’s the one in control, he’ll let Jason cling to him when he wants it. So, he kisses Jason until neither of them can breathe and Jason’s desperately thrusting his hips up into Tim’s body.

“God, you really are needy.” Tim chuckles, pressing down harder on Jason’s wrists before he lets go of them, basically telling Jason not to move. And he doesn’t despite how much he clearly wants to as he watches Tim pull his top off over his head.

Jason squirms uselessly beneath Tim, watching him strip himself. He slowly works his pants down his thighs, watching as Jason’s eyes follow the movement. After some awkward shuffling, he manages to clear the clothing from his body completely and is back to leaning over Jason. He can see the self-restraint in his eyes as he forces himself not to reach up and just touch. Tim smirks and leans in to kiss Jason again, full but softly.

“Please.” Jason mumbles, tipping his head back as he clenches his fists, his eyes screwed shut as he continues to roll his hips up into Tim’s body. Tim holds back his own moans at the contact, feeling how hard and wet Jason’s cock is against his own.

“Shirt off first.” Tim purrs, sitting back on his haunches again. Jason doesn’t hesitate in sitting up with him and quickly getting his shirt off. It’s almost amusing how fast he tries to get it off like if he cared any less he’d just  _ rip _ the thing from his body. Tim would have liked to see that.

Before Jason can lay back down onto the floor Tim wraps his arms around Jason’s torso and ducks his head down to his chest. He lightly kisses across a scar on Jason’s chest, keeping his eyes closed lightly as Jason’s chest heaves under his lips. He slowly licks over Jason’s nipple, getting a shaky breath from his boyfriend. He could tease at Jason’s nipples all day if he wanted to because he loved the way that Jason reacted; how he arches his back and pants heavily like he couldn’t breathe properly. But he doesn’t, as much as he’d love to. He pushes Jason down onto his back again, keeping himself up on his knees between Jason’s thighs.

Tim shuffles back, giving Jason a smirk when Jason’s breath hitches and his cock twitches against his belly because he knows what’s coming next. Tim hooks his arms under Jason’s thighs and hoists them up, pulling Jason’s lower body into his own as he hunches over slightly. He starts by kissing and nipping at the inside of Jason’s thighs which causes them to tremble in his hands. As he does he pushes Jason’s hips forward more, basically folding him in half. Jason paws uselessly at the carpeted floor, his head tipped back still but his eyes focused on Tim.

The first swipe of Tim’s tongue over Jason’s hole has Jason’s dick throbbing. It’s been a while since Tim’s eaten Jason out, but he knew exactly what to do to get the reactions he wanted from Jason. So he starts with little, weak licks and small kisses to his rim, listening to the noises that fail to stop tumbling out of Jason’s throat on a low whine. When Jason starts to pull on his own hair, that’s when Tim pulls Jason’s cheeks apart and works his tongue inside him. And the moan he gets is reward enough, but he’s happy for the bonus of Jason pushing his shoulders back into the floor so his chest arches up, his throat bared beautifully.

“You’re such a pretty little thing.” Tim purrs in between fucking his tongue into Jason and sucking on the insides of his thighs. Jason’s mouth twitches at the promise of a smirk, but it doesn’t stay when Tim’s tongue pulls more moans from him.

It doesn’t take long for the feeling to start to really get to Jason, enough that he’s panting Tim’s name. Jason drops his chin down against his chest, gritting his teeth as he fights off the urge to touch himself. Tim knows that Jason will come from just his tongue if he isn’t careful, so he pulls back, a little regretfully because he’d have liked eating Jason out some more. He shouldn’t have worked Jason up so much when he was sucking his cock. Something for him to keep in mind for next time. He does replace his tongue with two fingers though as he lowers Jason’s hips back to the floor.

“Tim.” His name falls from Jason’s mouth on a sigh, a whine chasing it as Jason keeps staring down at him.

His chest shines with a light sheen of sweat as it stutters, fringe sticking up from him pulling on it. He already looks well fucked and Tim loves it. He leans over Jason’s body again, slowly sliding in a third finger as he kisses Jason again. Jason can’t keep his hands to himself anymore, he reaches up and grips the back of Tim’s hair as his other hand splays out over the middle of his back. Jason bites and sucks on Tim’s lips, his hips rolling desperately back against Tim’s fingers again as Tim’s mouth catches all of his moans. Jason drops his head back, panting out a small curse as his eyes fall closed. Tim doesn’t waste any time in dipping his head to suck on Jason’s throat.

“Baby… please.” Jason’s fingers slowly run through Tim’s hair, surprisingly not gripping or tugging harshly on it at all. Tim doesn’t respond to Jason’s pleading, keeping the movements of his fingers slow but forceful inside Jason. He does slowly sit up again so that he can watch Jason begging beneath him. And he doesn’t disappoint, his body shivering occasionally, eyes squeezed shut and pleas falling between his panting and moaning. God, he was beautiful, Tim was so lucky.

“You want my cock?” Tim purrs and Jason’s head thumps back against the floor, a loud moan escaping his lips. He nods, biting his bottom lip as he looks back up at Tim, who raises his eyebrow with a sultry smile across his lips. “Beg for me.”

Jason groans but manages to without even the slightest of colour coming to his face, besides the flush that was already there from his arousal. “Please Tim, fuck me. I want your cock baby.  _ Please _ .”

“No shame.” Tim hums and Jason manages a weak chuckle and a smirk, tilting his head slightly.

“Never.” He breathes. Tim hums and pulls his fingers from Jason’s hole. He sits back and spits into his hand, working it over his cock in long, firm strokes. Jason doesn’t even move, he just stares back up at Tim like he was the goddamn sun. Tim tries to ignore it, but he can’t help the uneven beat of his heart.

Tim lines himself up and before Jason can even start begging again, slowly slides in. Jason moans, soft and low for what he’s been offering. Tim smirks to himself, biting back his own moans at how good Jason felt around him. He sits back, taking hold of Jason’s left leg and turning him, twisting his body so that Jason was still looking up at him as he holds his legs down together to the side. He slowly pulls back, his hands pressing down against Jason’s outer thigh and waist. Jason bites his bottom lip and just watches as Tim pushes back in, just as slowly.

“God you feel amazing.” Tim sighs, tipping his own head back a little as he drinks up the feeling. Jason wasn’t and probably never was as tight as what Roy is, but if Tim didn’t know any better he’d think that Jason was clenching down around him. The moment Jason actually does though Tim will lose his mind over how much tighter he gets.

“Baby please.” Jason moans. Tim drops his gaze back to Jason’s face, taking in how hazy his eyes are. Tim keeps his hold on Jason firm as he shifts his legs to anchor himself better on the floor.

Tim keeps his eyes locked with Jason’s as he thrusts into him deep and hard. Jason manages to keep eye contact even as he moans. Tim keeps the drawback slow but continues to slam his cock into Jason until his boyfriend isn’t able to keep his eyes from rolling closed. Once that happens, Tim really starts to fuck him. His hips move erratically, hard and fast in and out of Jason until their skin is slapping together.

“Fuck, baby yes. Tim, Timmy, Tim.” Jason’s voice cracks and wavers, his body jolting hard against Tim’s as he moans and whimpers, crying out Tim’s name. Tim isn’t sure what it is about him topping Jason that gets the older so worked up, but he can only guess that it’s because of how much smaller he is compared to Jason. But Jason becomes a mess, begging for more like Tim wasn’t already fucking him stupid. It makes it even harder for Tim to think straight when Jason’s words start to fumble into pathetic sounds.

“God, you’re such a slut for this Jaybird.” And Tim hadn’t  _ meant _ to say it. It had sort of just slipped out and he was fully ready to apologise until he couldn’t breathe. But Jason lets out a sudden moan, something different and Tim falls short.

“ _ Yes _ . Fuck yes, Timmmm.” Jason throws his head back again and Tim’s mind sort of short circuits for a moment, thankfully not enough for him to stop fucking Jason. “Always a slut for your cock baby.”

“Fuck Jason.” Tim bows his head, squeezing his eyes shut as Jason’s voice rolls around in his head. Because Tim might not have meant to say it, but it was the damn truth. Jason was a slut, he was the biggest cock slut Tim knew, and that was comparing Jason to himself. Because Tim didn’t beg and plea for it like Jason did, didn’t ask for more when he knew there wasn’t anything left to give. Jason was always ready and wanting it. He was a slut for sucking cock, taking cock, giving it. And it was probably one of Jason’s hottest traits.

Tim’s never met or even seen anyone who could be so submissive and yet pull off being the best dom possible. Because how could someone so desperate and whiney be the one person to fuck your brains out? And how the hell can someone jump from one extreme to the next so easily? But if he’s honest, he’s not surprised that that someone is Jason Peter Todd. Because if Jason was anything it was good at everything. He didn’t back down, he didn’t give up the chance to prove himself. He knew what he was, he knew he was hot shit, he knew he could drop to his knees and beg like a dog and he also knew he could tower over almost anyone and purr just right to get them squirming.

Tim’s panting and heaving with Jason, moving as hard and fast as he can. And Jason’s taking it like it’s  _ nothing _ . He’s still begging for more and squirming like his whole body is on overdrive. Maybe it was, Tim wasn’t sure because his own body felt like it was on fire. He hopes he leaves bruises on Jason’s body from how hard he’s pinning him down, he hopes that Jason’s throat will be raw from how loud he’s being.

“Timmy baby, I’m gonna come.” Jason whimpers, following through saying it again and again as he moans. Tim grits his teeth as he spreads Jason’s thighs again to try and fuck into him harder at the new angle.

“Good.” Tim mumbles. Jason whines and shakes his head as he reaches down to grab at his cock. Tim thinks about swatting his hand away so that he comes just from Tim’s cock inside him, but he’s too focused on pounding into Jason to actually do it. What he doesn’t realise at first is that Jason’s squeezing the base of his cock. And when Tim does notice, it looks like it’s too painful to feel good at all.

And then Jason’s whimpering and whining so loud that Tim thinks someone has to have heard him now, but Jason doesn’t  _ care, _ and Tim doesn’t care either because Jason’s trembling underneath him. Tim smirks to himself thinking Jason’s coming because he’s whimpering pathetically to himself like he does when he comes. But it dawns on Tim when he drops his gaze that Jason’s just forced himself to come dry so that they could keep going but Tim’s not sure that he  _ can _ . He’s so hard inside Jason and the feeling of him clenching around him is making his head spin.

“Holy shit baby.” Tim whimpers.

Jason echoes the sound, his body twitching violently in Tim’s hands from how oversensitive he is now. Tim’s hips jolt unevenly against Jason’s body and he forces himself to slow down. He couldn’t have himself coming now, not after Jason’s just edged himself like that. Tim manages to slow down enough that he was fucking into Jason at a slow and lazy pace, despite how close he felt to coming.

“Fuck Jay, you’re gonna kill me if you keep that shit up.” He chuckles, though it’s broken up with his heavy panting. Jason grins with his head tipped back and eyes closed tight as he keeps a firm grip on his cock like if he let go for a second, he’d come.

“Not… my in-tention…” Jason’s voice and breathing shake unevenly. Tim leans forward, dropping his hands heavily on the floor, boxing in Jason’s head. He leans in and they kiss, slow and soft despite how amped up the pace had been moments ago. Tim moans softly against Jason’s lips because Jason was still clenching up around him. He pulls back, still panting with his head bowed as he slowly rocks his hips back into Jason’s body because he can’t help it. He manages to sit himself up between Jason’s legs again, resting his hands on Jason’s thighs as he slowly pulls out. Jason makes a small noise of distress at the lack of being filled.

“Turn over for me.” Tim prompts. Jason smirks up at Tim as he pushes himself to sit up. He leans in to give Tim a quick kiss before he turns around and holds himself up on his hands and knees.

Tim takes a moment to take in the sight of Jason. He maps out the scars in Jason’s skin, trying to burn them into his memory. He pushes himself up onto his knees and lightly runs his fingers tips over them as he fits himself against Jason’s body. There’s one that’s about four inches that runs down the top of Jason’s spine, almost lining up with it perfectly and when Tim traces it, Jason shivers. Tim offers Jason a somewhat sad and soft smile when Jason glances at him from over his shoulder. Tim shifts his hips and slowly slides his cock back into Jason as he continues to run his fingers over faded wounds. Jason moans softly, lifting his head back with it.

“You’re gorgeous,” Tim mumbles as he starts to slowly thrust. Jason chuckles deep in his chest and spares Tim another glance over his shoulder.

“Only you’d say that while you’re balls deep in my ass.” Jason scoffs. Tim rolls his eyes and runs his hands down to rest on Jason’s sides, gripping his waist.

“You don’t have to stomp on every compliment I give you.” Tim shakes his head.

“Um, pretty sure you called me a slut before.” Jason points out and Tim smirks. He tightens his hold on Jason’s sides to pull him back against his hips as he speeds up his thrusts. Jason curses under his breath and drops his head forward, his fingers digging at the carpet.

“Yeah, and you owned that shit.” There’s a light growl to Tim’s tone. He leans over Jason’s back and turns his head into the side of Jason’s neck, tipping his head to lightly nibble at the lobe of Jason’s ear. Jason pushes his head into the feeling, moaning softly as his eyes fall closed.

“So, I don’t stomp on all of your compliments.” Jason chuckles, but his breathing is starting to get heavier again, and Tim knows he won’t be able to keep up the teasing.

“Just the ones that matter.” Tim purrs before he sucks hard on Jason’s ear and picks up his pace even more. Jason moans again and Tim smirks with Jason’s lobe between his teeth as he pounds into his boyfriend. It’s a bit of a strain because of Jason’s size, but it’s worth it to have Jason whimpering lowly when Tim starts biting into his neck.

Tim drops his hand from Jason’s side and works it under his body. His fingers trace lightly over Jason’s stomach before he takes Jason’s leaking cock in his hand. He pumps his fist hard and fast over Jason’s cock, needing to get him worked up pretty fast because he was already teetering far too close to the edge of his own orgasm now that he was back into it. And it really doesn’t help that Jason’s purposely clenching up and moaning louder than he needs too. Tim knows they’ll be hearing about this from someone later, probably Dick.

Tim pushes his forehead between Jason’s shoulder blades, panting heavily against Jason’s sweating skin. He moves his other hand up to press against Jason’s chest, digging his fingers into the muscle. Jason tries to get another look over his shoulder at Tim as he gives it to him as hard as he had been before. Jason can’t help but chuckle lightly, catching Tim’s attention and making him lift his head to catch his gaze. Jason cranes his neck as much as he physically can, balancing himself on one arm as he reaches back and guides Tim’s head toward his own. It’s an awkward strain and Jason grips Tim’s hair far too tight to try and keep him still so he can kiss him properly, but for the most part, it works.

“God baby you’re so fucking small.” Jason pants, getting a growl from Tim that makes him smirk.

“Shut up.”

“No, fuck. It’s so hot baby.” Jason groans, dropping his head forward again. So, Tim’s suspicions were correct, it was his size. He could live with that, so long as Jason didn’t make it a habit to point it out.

Tim doesn’t worry himself with giving a reply to that. He tightens his grip on Jason’s body, fucking him as hard as he can, jerking him off as best he can as he bites into Jason’s shoulder. Jason cries out at the sting, the feeling of Tim’s teeth breaking his skin like he’s trying to make a claim over him driving him crazy. And Tim’s whimpering lowly against his skin as he licks at the blood that beads out of a few small splits in Jason’s skin.

“ _ Jay _ .” Tim keens before a string of moans start to tumble from his mouth and Jason knows he’s going to come. Jason presses his hands down harder into the floor, locking his elbows in the process as he digs his toes into the carpet as best as he can, so he can move his body back against Tim’s.

“Fuck baby. Fill me up, Tim.” Jason pants. He hisses when Tim’s nails dig into the skin of his chest, though he silently hopes that he’ll make him bleed some more. As it was Tim had latched his mouth back onto Jason’s shoulder, biting down hard to stop himself from making any noises. Jason wasn’t sure if he’d prefer to hear them or if the pain of Tim using his flesh as a gag was better.

Tim chokes out a strangled sound into Jason’s skin, slamming into him hard once more before his hips still, pressed hard against Jason’s ass as he comes. Jason groans with the feeling of Tim’s come painting up his insides, fucking into Tim’s fist as his toes curl with the pleasure of it all. Tim’s strokes lose their force, but it’s made up for by the little noises Tim makes right into Jason’s ear, enough to push him over the edge. Jason bites his tongue, stopping himself from shouting out with his release as he comes all over the floor. Jason’s arms shake and as his cock gives a final weak twitch, dribbling out the last drops of come he can manage he lets them fold up and he leans down to rest his head on them. Tim’s body drapes over his, his hands moving to Jason’s hips as Tim keeps his mouth pressed to Jason’s skin.

They stay like that for at least five minutes, catching their breath and trying to refocus their minds. Jason manages to collect himself first as he lifts his head to try and look back at Tim. He’s still shaking against Jason’s back, making low noises that Jason can’t put as words or whimpers. Jason pushes himself back up onto his hands, taking a moment to suck in a deep breath before he reaches back, resting his hand over Tim’s back as he sits himself up more on his knees. Tim stays upright against his back and manages to shift back enough to slide his softening cock from Jason’s body. Jason bites his lip, eyes falling closed at the warm feeling of Tim’s come dribbling out of him. He slowly turns, keeping Tim steady as he manages to sit himself down, cringing slightly at the slight tenderness to his ass and the fact that he’s sat in his come. He lightly brushes Tim’s hair from his face, taking in his flushed face as he still pants like he was still riding the high.

“You okay?” Jason asks and when Tim’s eyes roll closed, and he nods with a loud exhale of air that pulls a chuckle from Jason. “You sure?”

“Yeah, there’s just… when I…” Tim sways a little and Jason slowly pulls him into his body, still chuckling as he pets Tim’s hair.

“It’s always more intense when you’re coming inside someone else. I know.” Jason snorts. They’re silent for a long moment as Tim recollects himself properly. He hasn’t been that bad for a while. He manages to lift his gaze and meets Jason’s eyes.

“I think… it’s the implication. There’s that extra layer of trust and y’know… love. Plus, you just feel so fucking amazing.” Tim huffs, resting his head against Jason’s chest. Jason snorts again and kisses Tim’s hair.

“It’s all you, baby. You’re so fucking good.”

“I try.”

“And you fucking own it. Anyone who challenges your ability to fuck would never survive having you show them what you can do.” Jason laughs and Tim shakes his head with a slightly embarrassed smile at the thought.

“Sorry about y’know, biting you and all that,” Tim mumbles, running his fingers lightly over the scratch marks he’d left in Jason’s chest.

“Don’t be. You know I like it.” Jason chuckles, kissing Tim’s head again. He drops his hand down to Tim’s belly and lightly presses his thumb into his skin to rub small circles there. Tim fights off his smile and kisses Jason’s skin lightly before he pulls back enough to look up at the older.

“Should probably clean up.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stand up without my legs giving out on me.” Jason notes and Tim rolls his eyes.

“You’re sat down just fine, stop complaining.”

“You have no idea how uncomfortable I am right now.” Jason chuckles. Tim pushes himself off of Jason’s lap and gets himself to his feet. Jason leans back on his hands with a groan, shifting his ass on the floor.

“I’m only a little sorry. But if it’s that bad why didn’t you move?” Tim raises an eyebrow and Jason shrugs his shoulder.

“Had to make sure you were okay first. Wasn’t sure if you were going to phase out on me there for a moment.”

Tim rolls his eyes again and holds his hand out for Jason. “You’re unbelievable Todd.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	37. Obsessive overthinkers

Tim sucks on his bottom lip, keeping his gaze on his floor in front of his feet to avoid having to look at anyone. The conversation had gotten pretty heated earlier and they were all still reeling from it, calming themselves down. Tim had expected Bruce to react aggressively to this, he’d expected Bruce to stare with disapproval in Michael’s direction. The aggression happened, he had a lot of choice words to say that made Michael shrink back into himself, but none of it was really directed at Michael. He’d even lightly placed his hand on the kid's shoulder and made a point to say it wasn’t his fault. It was Dick that had set off a shitstorm. Tim couldn’t really blame him, he’d had a hard day and he’s been a bundle of stress since Tim announced he was pregnant. It was still a bit of a shock to the system when he’d snapped. He was angry at them for keeping this quiet, he was angry with Michael for letting Ben in like he had, he was angry with Jason for letting this happen in the first place. He even had his piece to say about Bruce being so calm with the situation. It wasn’t a good time.

Jason had dragged him from the room, hell he dragged him right out the front door with his teeth gritted in a snarl. When the heavy door had slammed Tim had expected something to fall from the wall. Their arguing still didn’t go unheard through the walls, albeit it being muffled. Tim can’t remember the last time they argued, especially like that.

Now, it was dead silent, and Tim was trying hard not to look at Damian, Bruce or Michael. Jason still had Dick outside and somehow the silence was more unsettling than the yelling had been. He fidgets uncomfortably in his spot, staring at the carpet like maybe it would move. Michael lets out a shaky sigh and Tim suppresses the urge to look up at him.

“I’m gonna go make sure they haven’t y’know, killed each other or something.” He mumbles as he points over his shoulder. Before he can even go to turn around Bruce takes hold of his shoulder again and lets out an exhausted sigh.

“It might be best if you just let them have a moment.” Bruce offers. Tim slowly lifts his head and watches them.

“They’ve had a moment, they’ve had serval moments. And the fact that they’re not screaming at each other is unsettling.” Michael mumbles. He’s still curled in on himself like he doesn’t want to be as tall as he is. Tim can understand that he even wanted to be smaller than what he was.

“They’ll sort it out. Jason has always known how to calm Dick down best.” Bruce assures even though he can’t hide the concern on his face.

“Dick needs this. Jason would have let him get everything out of the way, would have pushed him until he had nothing left and then talked him through it. Dick… he’s not good with working through his emotions when he lets them bottle up. And Dick’s been bottling a lot of shit up lately.” Damian sighs, running his hand through his hair. Tim nibbles his bottom lip and drops his gaze again.

“Doesn’t help that he had to deal with the Titan’s today.” Tim sighs with a small shake of his head.

“Deal with them?” Damian asks and Tim sees him step closer through the corner of his eye.

“He told them. Said it’d be easier on me but things got heated and he had to try and sort it out.” Tim wraps his arms around himself, squeezing his own biceps as he shakes his head lightly. “I should have been there to take that burden. It’s my shit and he had to take the brunt of it.”

“He wanted to do that for you, Tim. He’s not going to just take shit because he thinks it’ll be fun. He did it for you, to make sure nothing bad happened to you. This isn’t your fault.” Damian tries to offer Tim a reassuring smile, but it does nothing to make Tim feel any better. Dick didn’t need Tim’s shit piled on top of his own.

“He’s exhausted.” Tim sighs, tightening his hold on himself. Damian rests his hand on Tim’s arm, rubbing his thumb into his skin. There’s nothing to say to that, they’re all exhausted. Tim drops his arms to his sides with another sigh and moves to drop himself down onto the couch heavily. He slumps against the arm, resting his head in his hand as he picks at his pants.

The silence drags on for what feels like years. It starts to get to the point that Tim feels like he’s going to go crazy if someone doesn’t say something. No one moves, besides Michael’s nervous tick of kicking at the floor and his own small movements as he picks at things and starts to bounce his knee. If Bruce and Damian weren’t standing, Tim might have thought they’d died. The sound of the front door opening is more relieving than it should be. Tim lifts his gaze to the doorway, everyone else looking that way when Dick steps back into the room. His shoulders sag and Tim notices that his eyes look red-rimmed.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles with a soft sigh, reaching up to run his hand through his hair. He looks like he has more he wants to say, but instead, he drops his gaze to the floor and shoves his hands into his pockets, stepping out of the doorway. Jason stands beside him, eyeing him up a little before he looks back to everyone else.

“We all know the situation, when Ben can he’ll organise a meetup location and time, he’ll talk to us about it before then.”

“And you don’t plan on taking him in?” Bruce asks again. It was the one thing he hadn’t been agreeing on.

“I’m giving him one chance. If he fucks that up, there’s nothing he can do that’ll stop me.”

“Ben needs him,” Michael mumbles. Jason sighs, crossing his arms over his chest as he straightens up his stance.

“I’m sorry Mike, I’ve spoken to Ben and he agrees. One shot, that’s all he gets.”

“What if he takes this out on Ben?” Dick asks in a weak voice.

“He touches Ben and I’ll kill him myself.” Jason drops his arms to his sides and starts to move across the room. Tim drops his gaze and bites his bottom lip again.

“And how exactly will you do that?” Damian asks as Jason passes him.

“They thought Superman couldn’t be killed. I’ll find a way.” And with that, Jason leaves the room.

Tim knew that had been something Jason had been worrying about. He wanted to give Jack the chance to fix everything with Ben, the chance Jason won’t admit he wishes his own dad was given or had taken. But Jason knew he was leaving an open opportunity for Jack to turn this on Ben, to beat him, hurt him, anything to get back at him for ratting him out. Tim knows that Jason won’t stop at anything to make sure Jack’s killed if that becomes the case. The only kind of people that get under Jason’s skin more than rapists are abusive parents. It sits too close to home for him.

“This is gonna get messy.” Michael sighs. Tim tries not to snort at the fact that he sounds surprised by the thought.

“That’s what we’re for.” Dick offers, trying to flash a smile. It doesn’t hold true and he drops his head again and follows after Jason from the room. Wordlessly, Bruce walks out too. Tim sighs and leans back on the couch, letting his head rest on the top, staring up at the ceiling.

“That could’ve gone better.”

“Is Dick going to be okay?” Michael asks in a concerned tone.

“He will be. Just give him a few hours.” Damian nods. A sideways smile comes across Tim’s lips and he chuckles lightly.

“Jason does that to you.” He snickers. Damian shakes his head and moves over to the couch, sitting himself down beside Tim.

“You’d know all about that.” He hums, nudging Tim’s side lightly with his elbow. Tim catches Michael shaking his head from the corner of his eye and shoots him a smile. The blonde fights off his own smile and turns away from them.

“I’m gone.” He mumbles before like everyone else, he leaves the room. Tim watches him go, smile slowly slipping from his face.

“Promise me you won’t let anything happen to him,” Tim mumbles, turning back to face Damian as he swallows a little thickly. “Mike’s just a kid, he needs Jason and-”

“Relax Drake,” Damian scoffs with a small chuckle. He rests his hand on Tim’s knee offering him a soft smile. “Jason will be fine. I promise that you won’t have to take custody of Michael and raise two of Jason’s kids on your own.”

“That’s not funny Damian,” Tim mutters when Damian continues to laugh lightly. Damian bites his bottom lip and stops himself from snickering, sucking in a small breath to calm himself down.

“If Jack even tries to lay a finger on Jason, I’ll kill him. You have my word.” Damian gives Tim’s knee a small squeeze. Tim averts his gaze and brings his hand to lightly rest against his stomach.

“Good.” Tim nods his head like he was assuring himself. Damian gives Tim a soft smile and turns himself so that he’s facing Tim completely, shifting forward on the couch so that they’re sat closer.

“I spoke to Jason earlier.” He mumbles. Tim expected as much. He drops his gaze again with a small sigh. Damian watches him for a moment, silently as he waits for Tim to respond. He slowly reaches up and pushes Tim’s hair from his face, tucking it behind his ear. He really should get it cut. “You know, you always talk about how much Dick worries over things and how Jason obsessively overthinks but you’re no better.”

“I know Damian.” Tim sighs, looking back up at the younger with a forced smile. “I’m sorry.”

“For overthinking or for something that was never going to last?”

“I… both?” Tim grimaces slightly and Damian shakes his head with a fond smile.

“Honestly Tim you’re a worry to yourself. Jason said he was okay with it and that’s y’know nice of him or whatever, but I knew. There didn’t need to be this sense of closure, I was aware this wasn’t going to continue now but if I’d known it was bothering you I would’ve said something.” He lightly rubs his hand against Tim’s leg. “You’re having a baby, I would never expect things between us to stay the same.”

“If you ever… if there’s ever a time that… y’know you want, uh. Just for whatever reason, you can ask.” Tim shakes his head at himself, grimacing further at the fact he couldn’t just say it. Damian snorts and drops his head forward slightly with a laugh.

“Having a stroke there?”

“Shut up otherwise I’ll change my mind.” Tim swats him in the arm, but he’s able to take a steady breath like his lungs figured out how to work again. At least that got that situation out of the way.

“I might not take you up on that offer, though I’ll keep one in the bank, for old times sake.” Damian smirks and Tim chews his bottom lip, holding back his smile.

“Sure.” Tim drops his gaze for a moment, trailing his hand over his leg to rest on top of Damian’s. He runs his thumb over scarred knuckles as he lifts his eyes to Damian’s again. He smiles a little weakly and leans in, resting his forehead against Damian’s as he lets his eyes fall closed.

“But… thanks. For everything you’ve done for me.” Damian mumbles in a low voice. Tim shakes his head lightly.

“There’s nothing to thank me for, you would have done the same for me.” Tim mumbles before he pulls back, offering Damian a soft and yet still slightly sad smile.

“Always.” He returns Tim’s smile, his just as weak. He pats Tim’s leg a few times after a moment of silence passes between them and averts his gaze. “I know I said he’d be fine, but I am going to check on Grayson.”

“Wouldn’t hurt. I should probably make sure Jason’s okay.” Tim nods in agreement. Damian doesn’t move for a moment, his hand still on Tim’s leg so he doesn’t either. They stare at each other for a moment, Tim a little wearily because Damian’s eyes are unreadable. He shifts forward again and Tim’s eyes fall closed on instinct as Damian presses his lips to his forehead.

“Before you start overthinking, I’m not hung up over this.” He mumbles against Tim’s skin before he presses another kiss to his head. Tim looks up at him when he pulls back, shaking his head slightly. Damian ruffles his hair and pushes himself up from the couch. Tim watches him leave the room with a lopsided smile on his face. Of course, Jason had mentioned  _ everything _ .

“You’re exhausting, Todd,” Tim mumbles to himself, tipping his head back against the couch as he lets out a heavy sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	38. Regretful words

Tim finds Jason in the training room. It makes sense that after he’s had a fight with Dick that he would. Jason used to spend too much time in the training room, pushing his body to the point of breaking. The strain of a workout was enough to clear his head and even now he still uses it as a coping mechanism. But he knows his limits now and he won’t work himself too hard, especially if it’s just to blow some steam.

It doesn’t matter how many times he watches or joins Jason in his workouts, Tim will always be intimidated by Jason’s raw strength. Because not only does Jason have the height advantage on him but he’s got the muscle mass to go with it. Jason’s nearly twice Tim’s weight and if he wanted, could bench press Tim with ease. So, watching Jason press his own weight makes Tim’s arms feel weak. He has more strength in his legs anyway, not that he’d challenge Jason’s thighs to a face off unless he was having a really good day.

Tim slowly saunters over to Jason’s side, pointedly ignoring the light grunts that Jason gives occasionally. He offers Jason a lopsided smile when he steps into Jason’s view and catches his attention. Jason returns his smile before he goes back to focusing on doing a few more reps -fourteen, Tim counts- before he sets the weights back down on the rack.

“Careful, don’t want to get too buff.” Tim jokes, poking Jason’s bicep when he sits up on the bench.

“I’m gonna need to get used to carrying around some extra weight pretty soon, need the extra strength.” Jason teases, earning himself a swat to the back of his head. Tim shakes his own head and crosses his arms over his chest as Jason grins up at him with a small chuckle.

“I didn’t come here to be harassed.” Tim huffs. Jason hums and reaches out to take hold of Tim’s hips and pull him closer. Tim sits in Jason’s lap, only a little hesitantly. He has to straddle the bench with Jason so that he can face him properly, but he’s not about to complain.

“Well, I know for a fact you didn’t come here to do any heavy lifting, so what’s up?” Jason cocks an eyebrow. “Unless you did, in which case I’ll kick your ass.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Dick hasn’t gone off on you like that in years.” Tim wraps his arms around Jason’s neck, trying to hold back the grimace at how sweaty the back of Jason’s hair is. He’d obviously already done a decent amount of reps.

“No harm done. We all say things we don’t mean when we’re pissed.” Jason shrugs, but there’s something in the way he suddenly averts his eyes that unsettles Tim. Because Jason and Dick didn’t fight anymore, no matter how pissed they got. Tim presses his palm to Jason’s cheek and rubs his thumb over his skin in small circles.

“Just because he didn’t mean it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. What’d he say to you?” Tim presses and he hates that Jason’s eyes roll closed and he sets his jaw.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jason tries to wave him off, but Tim shakes his head and holds Jason’s face in both hands, forcing the older to look back at him.

“Jay… no more secrets okay? I know Dick can be pretty nasty when he’s like that.” Jason sighs and drops his gaze, his hand coming to rest on Tim’s belly.

“He didn’t mean it, as soon as he said it I could see the regret in his eyes and he broke down. I’m not mad, or upset I just… I guess I didn’t expect him to say  _ that _ . He was a mess, Tim, he knew it’d hurt, that was why he said it because he’s been under so much stress lately and he just wanted someone else to feel worse than he did. He needed to vent, and once he got it all out of the way… it was like he’d had the weight of this damn house taken off of him. He wouldn’t have said it if I hadn’t pushed, but I pushed because he needed to let it out.” Jason drops his head forward and rests his forehead against the side of Tim’s neck. Tim runs his hand up into Jason’s hair, despite how sweaty it is and lightly combs his fingers through the strands.

“I get that, I do.”

“Then it doesn’t matter what he said because he didn’t mean it and he never would.”

“It’s bothering you. Jason, this is the exact reason Dick snapped. Because he just holds onto all of his shit.” Tim sighs, turning his head to kiss Jason’s temple. Jason swallows thickly, but he stays silent and it bothers Tim so much that Jason’s obviously making a point of paying attention to his stomach. “Please.”

“He… he said… fuck.” Jason pulls back and runs his own hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. Tim keeps his hold on him, rubbing his thumbs into his skin to try and soothe him. Jason sucks in another breath as he closes his eyes. “He said I’m going to ruin your kid. But he didn’t  _ mean _ it, I know he didn’t. It just… it sucks hearing someone voice your own thoughts.”

Jason looks away again and Tim can see that his eyes are wet with tears he’s trying to hold back. It tugs at Tim’s chest, it makes his gut feel uneasy because even though he knows Dick didn’t mean it, the thought had to have crossed his mind at some point for him to be saying it at all. And maybe it wasn’t in a negative way, maybe he and Wally had been talking about how Jason doubts himself, but that didn’t change the fact that him saying it hurt. And it hurts Tim too because he loves Jason and he doesn’t think Jason will mess this up or do any harm to his baby, but he knows Jason is always one step away from self-loathing. So, hearing someone say the one thing he’s been fearing the most would be the worst feeling for him. Tim pushes himself closer to Jason’s body, wrapping his arms tightly around him as he holds his hand in Jason’s hair again and lets Jason press his face into his shoulder.

“Baby… you know that’s not true,  _ Dick _ knows it’s not true. You’re an amazing father, Jason. There is no one else I want to have this baby with. Even if I  _ knew _ it wasn’t yours I’d still want you to be there. I know you doubt yourself, I know you think that there are only negative outcomes for you but you’re wrong Jay. You are not going to ruin this, you’re not going to ruin  _ our _ child, they’re going to be the luckiest kid in the world because they’re going to have you as a parent.” Tim assures, swallowing back his own sniffles. Jason hugs Tim tighter, squeezing him slightly even as he keeps one hand pressed to Tim’s belly.

“You’ve got a lot of praise to say about a fucked-up, back alley accident,” Jason mumbles into Tim’s shoulder, scoffing at his own insult to himself. Tim shakes his head and grips Jason tighter.

“Accidents aren’t always bad Jason. You definitely weren’t.”

“You say that now.” Jason scoffs again.

“And I’ll say it for the rest of our lives. I don’t care how much of a fuck up you think you are just because people have tried to ruin you. You’re an amazing person and nothing could change that.” Tim lifts his head to rest it against Jason’s.

“You keep talking like that and I might start thinking I mean something.” Jason manages a weak chuckle, even though his voice wobbles. Tim pulls back, cupping Jason’s face between his hands again as he looks up at him with a weak smile.

“To me, you do.” He mumbles in a low voice, letting his eyes fall closed as he leans into Jason. He kisses him softly even when Jason’s hand grips him tighter and he makes a low noise in the back of his throat that Tim can’t distinguish as something miserable or something hopeful.

“I must have been a saint in a past life to ever deserve you in this one.” Jason sighs, turning his head slightly so that he can nuzzle his nose against Tim’s neck, giving him another small squeeze.

“Or maybe you’re just perfect enough in this one.” Tim offers, smiling softly to himself as he nuzzles into Jason’s hair in return of Jason’s nuzzling.

“No, that doesn’t sound right.” Jason mumbles and Tim shakes his head softly, closing his eyes as he rubs Jason’s back softly.

“You’re better than you think, Jason.” Tim assures. He turns to kiss the side of Jason’s head again. “And I love you, imperfections and all.”

“I’m either perfect or I’m not. You gotta make up your mind before you confuse a guy Timmy.” Jason pulls back and gives Tim a soft smile. He kisses Tim again, letting himself relax fully.

“You’re perfect, physically. Personality could use an upgrade.” Tim teases, biting back a grin.

“So, the truth comes out.” Jason clicks his tongue with a light shake of his head. “I love you too, by the way.” Tim lets out a small snort-esque chuckle.

“I know you do.” Tim gives Jason another soft kiss before he shifts back in Jason’s lap. “You talked it all out with Dick, right?”

“Yeah, I guess I couldn’t just forget about it. It… hearing him say it was just unsettling. You never expect stuff like that from him.” Jason shrugs.

“He has had a rough day. I’m not saying that’s an excuse.”

“I know what you mean baby bird, relax.” Jason assures, reaching up to push Tim’s hair back behind his ear.

“I really need a haircut.” Tim huffs, running his hand through his hair to try and push it back more. Jason purses his lips and keeps playing with the strands, despite Tim’s attempts to get it out of the way.

“I like it.”

“Yeah?” Tim gives him a sceptical look. Jason’s smile widens, and he runs his hand into the back of Tim’s hair, tangling his fingers in the strands.

“Yeah, means I can do this,” Jason tugs lightly on Tim’s hair, pulling his head back and eliciting a gasp from the younger. Jason chuckles and leans in to graze his teeth over Tim’s throat. Tim shoves at his chest and curls in on himself, turning his head into his shoulder to try and shield his neck from Jason’s mouth.

“Screw you,” Tim complains, glaring at Jason even though it doesn’t hold well because his lip is trying to curl into a smile.

“Mm, maybe later.” Jason lightly pats Tim’s bum before he shifts him out of his lap completely and stands up, awkwardly because he’s still straddling the weight bench. He steps over the side and rolls his shoulders back, his neck giving a small ‘pop’ sound when he rolls his head to the side. “But I’m not done here.”

“Passing on the chance of sex for a workout? You sure you’re okay babe?” Tim teases with a cocky smile. Jason rolls his eyes as he collects up the gauze roll he’d already gotten out previously. He holds it up and turns it slightly in his hand.

“Wanna make yourself useful?”

“A little offensive, but sure.” Tim shifts himself back on the bench and pats the space in front of him. Jason sits back down, straddling the bench as he hands the wrap over.

“You’ve got a thing for hands,” Jason notes as Tim takes hold of his hand and starts covering Jason’s knuckles and wrapping his wrist.

“You do everything with your hands. They tell as much of your story as you could verbally. Rough hands, with scarred knuckles, calluses and worn skin show the physical toll of life on a person. Someone with softer, undamaged skin shows that life’s been kinder to them, physically at least. Chewed nails are usually a sign of stress, cut nails mean there is more time and patience in a person’s life. You can learn a lot just from someone’s hands.” Tim shrugs lightly. His head slightly and slowly tips side to side as he wraps Jason’s hand, following the motion. Jason bites the inside of his cheek, so he doesn’t point it out because he knows Tim will stop doing it.

“My hands are pretty great storytellers then, hey?”

“Scared knuckles, cigarette burns, cuts in the palm and back of your hand, faded lines across your wrist, the slight twitch of a trigger finger… yeah, there’s a lot you could get from that.” Tim hums as he lifts his gaze. He offers Jason a soft smile as he finishes up on Jason’s left hand and moves on to the right. “Do you know what I love most about beaten hands like yours?”

“You have a thing for bad boys?” Jason raises an eyebrow in question. Tim chuckles and shakes his head. He lifts Jason’s hand and kisses his knuckles softly before he works the gauze over them.

“They show how rough life has treated you, how tough you’ve had it. But I know how soft they can be, how gentle their touch is. How practised and perfected their actions and movements are. How they can work over someone’s body so easily they can either be the most dangerous hands for you to fall into or the safest you’ve ever come across.”

“You think about this a lot?” Jason asks with a light chuckle. Tim shrugs again and finishes off the wrap, keeping hold of Jason’s hand for a moment longer, brushing his thumb over his covered knuckles.

“As you said, I’ve got a thing for hands.” Tim looks back up at Jason.

“You know what I like about my hands? How they look against your skin, how good I can make you feel with them.” Jason smirks when Tim ducks his head and bites his lip. Jason rests his hands on Tim’s hips before he presses a kiss to the top of Tim’s head. “Thanks, babe.”

“You’re a piece of work, Todd.” Tim huffs as Jason gets himself up from the bench again. He chuckles as he rolls his shoulders again and moves over to the punching bag.

“I try.” He flashes Tim another smile before he turns to the bag and starts throwing punches. Tim leans back on the weight bench and just watches.

There’s so much control in all of Jason’s movements; so much precision and power. Tim might be intimidated watching Jason lift the equivalent of four of himself over his own head, but he was always happy to watch Jason stand at a punching bag. Hell, he was happy standing back and watching Red Hood size up and wipe out thugs with his fists. Jason’s training as Robin, the training that he went under after his resurrection, the training he formed for himself to test and push his limits had shaped the perfect kind of power in his body that made it hard to look away when he moved. Part of Tim thinks it’s a waste, that Jason isn’t still beating the heads in of assholes who deserve it. But he’s not going to ever say that out loud, because he respects Jason’s choice and he needs to get over his own stupid fetishes.

He’s snapped out of whatever dazed, dream state he’d let himself fall into by the sound and feel of his ass vibrating against the weight bench. He leans forward and fumbles around in his back pocket for his phone. Raven’s name is shown across the screen and he bites his lip, sucking in a small breath before he answers the call. He catches Jason watching him through the corner of his eye, trying not to look obvious about the fact that he’s clearly concerned. Tim turns his gaze away and tries not to sound nervous when he speaks.

“Hey, Rae.”

“Hey Tim, I haven’t caught you at a bad time, have I?” She sounds just as nervous as he feels. Somehow, that’s comforting for him.

“No, no. I’m glad you called.” Tim chews his bottom lip slightly as he pulls his legs up onto the bench, pressing his knees into his chest.

“Really?”

“Well, at least someone called, y’know?” Tim chuckles a little weakly.

“I would have thought someone might have called. I was worried I hadn’t given enough time and that you might have been overwhelmed.” Rachel lets out a shaky breath.

“I know Dick said to give it time but the sooner it gets out of the way, the better in my opinion.” Tim shrugs as he picks at his socked feet.

“I can understand that.” Rachel mumbles. They fall silent for a moment because Tim knows why she called but he doesn’t know what to say about it. “I’m sorry, Tim.”

Tim shakes his head as his eyes fall closed. “Please don’t be.”

“I had no idea that… we thought you were happy.” Her voice drops. Tim’s grip on his phone tightens and he squeezes his eyes shut tighter.

“I know… I did too.” He admits. They fall silent again. Tim opens his eyes and chances a glance over in Jason’s direction. He’s still sparing sideways glances in Tim’s direction, but his main focus is on the punching bag.

“You deserve to be happy.” Rachel finally manages to say. A weak smile tugs at Tim’s lips and he drops his head forward, looking back down at his feet.

“I’m working on that.”

“I’m glad. And um… congratulations, by the way. I know it’s probably not what you planned for yourself but… I’m guessing the fact you’ve chosen to keep the baby means that you at least wanted kids.” She sounds so unsure about everything she says. Tim wished he didn’t have to talk to her over the phone. He’d had rather spoken with them all face to face.

“Part of me has. Part of me said it wouldn’t happen. I knew… I knew I couldn’t have kids with Kon.” Tim bites his lip again and goes back to picking at his socks.

“If you knew it was his, would you have kept it?” She asks. Almost immediately after she has, before Tim can even think about uttering a reply, she’s apologising. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that. I shouldn’t be asking you things like that.”

“Rae, it’s fine,” Tim assures her, hoping that his calm and soft smile will show through in his voice. “At first… I don’t think I would have wanted to. But Jason… I hadn’t thought about the fact that this was my baby too. Jason reminded me of that. I would have wanted to keep my baby.”

“I guess that’s a good way of looking at it. It sounds like you made the right choice with Jason.” Tim can’t help but let out a light chuckle as he lifts his gaze. Jason’s staring back at him, his eyes showing how uncertain he was.

“I think I did,” Tim admits, offering Jason a soft smile. Jason returns it, resting his hands on either side of the bag as he continues to watch Tim.

“He’s a better person than most give him credit for.” It was nice hearing someone else say it. Rachel had always understood the situation with Jason best. She got it, got  _ them _ . Tim couldn’t be more thankful for it.

“He is.”

“And Michael’s turned out okay. He’s a good kid, Jason knows what he’s doing.” Rachel offers and Tim loves that he can hear the ‘fact’ to her tone like she was one hundred per cent certain about what she was saying.

“He doesn’t think so.” Tim chuckles softly. Jason narrows his eyes, knowing that Tim was talking about him.

“If he doesn’t, he’ll figure it out, just like you will.”

“Here’s to hoping.” Tim hums.

“You’re going to make great parents.” Rachel states. Tim ducks his head and bites back his smile, feeling heat rising on his cheeks. “And I know what you’re thinking, Tim, but you really are. Your kid won’t ever have to worry about anything because they’re going to have the most loving, supportive and protective parents.”

Tim chuckles, a little wobbly if he’s honest. Stupid hormones. He lifts his gaze again, meeting Jason’s stare with a sideways smile. “Thanks, Rae.”

“I can almost hear the heart eyes you’re giving Jason right now.” She chuckles. Tim clicks his tongue as his smile widens.

“What can I say? I’ve fallen pretty hard for the idiot.” Tim mumbles. Jason’s smile twitches into a smirk and he steps away from the bag to move back over to Tim.

“If anyone is an idiot it’s you for not realising you had fallen for him years ago.” Rachel tusks lightly. Tim scoffs and tips his head back to keep looking at Jason when he stands directly in front of him.

“I think I always knew, I just didn’t want to admit it to myself.”

“That sounds about right.” Rachel mumbles and Tim can imagine her rolling her eyes. “I should let you get back to him.”

“Fun fact, he doesn’t need attention to survive.” Tim offers, smiling wide when Jason rolls his eyes and pushes Tim’s legs from the bench so that he can sit in front of him without having Tim’s knees in between them.

“Shocking.” Rachel fakes shock in her tone that pulls a light chuckle from Tim. “Again, congrats Tim. If you ever need, you can always talk to me or if you just need some silent company, I won’t mind.”

“Thank you, Rachel.” Tim drops his gaze as he chews his lip again.

“I’m always happy to help.”

“I know,” Tim replies truthfully.

“I’ll see you soon, okay?” Her voice sounds more relaxed now. Tim’s glad she called; relieved even.

“Yeah, I know where to find you.”

“Kinda hard to forget where you’ll be.” Rachel chuckles and Tim’s smile softens more. “Take care, Tim.”

“You too.” His voice is low and comes out almost breathlessly, the weight of his own fear finally lifting. There’s a small pause before the line goes dead and Tim sucks in a shaky breath. He lifts his gaze as he drops his hand into his lap, looking up at Jason with a crooked smile. Jason reaches up with both hands and frames Tim’s face in his palms. He lightly scratches his fingers into the back of Tim’s head in a relaxing motion.

“You worry too much about everything,” Jason mumbles, his smile sideways and soft as he leans in. He gives Tim a soft and slow kiss.

“I know, but I have you to ground me.” Tim sighs softly, keeping his eyes closed even when Jason pulls back.

“Always.” Jason whispers and Tim’s smile widens into a soft grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	39. Sidelined

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thanks to [Lizmny3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizmny3/works) for taking the time to beta read this fic!

It takes two days for Ben to show up at the manor again. From the moment he walks in the door, the atmosphere becomes tense and uneasy. They all know why he’s there and so they don’t waste any time getting straight to the point.

“I’ve managed to organise to meet up with Dad tomorrow. Cobblepot Park, at three. He’s a little sceptical, I’ll make sure he shows before I get you guys to join, just in case.” Ben rattles off once everyone’s there to listen. “I’ll send Jason a text to let you guys know when it’s clear.”

“And what’s the plan from there?” Damian asks, his arms crossed over his chest, pressed shoulder to shoulder with Tim.

“I’m going to try talking to Jack, simple as that.” Jason shrugs like it was obvious. Damian shifts a little and Tim knows he’s not okay with this idea.

“And what, we’re just there in case something goes wrong?”

“Basically.” Jason hums.

“No plan for what we’re gonna do if that does happen? You realise that he’ll be finding out you’re Red Hood, or at the least that you used to be.” Damian points out, shifting his footing.

“He doesn’t need to know that. Everyone knows that Batman and Bruce Wayne have connections. It only makes sense that Batman’s allies are included in that equation.” Jason pushes himself off of the counter he was leaning against and takes a few steps toward Damian. “I’m not going to say anything that could tip him off. I’m just going to tell him what his options are.”

“Say something does go wrong, how are we meant to cover your ass without giving ourselves away?” Damian squares up his stance. Tim realises that to a certain extent, Damian was challenging Jason. His points were valid, it was things Tim had been worrying about but had opted out of talking to Jason about.

“Just because you know how to throw a punch doesn’t mean he can turn around and say you’re Robin.” Jason raises an eyebrow like he’s hoping Damian might have something smart to that. Instead, Damian just shakes his head and leans back against the table.

“You haven’t thought this through at all.” He sighs. Jason makes a vague hand gesture like he was asking ‘so what’.

“There’s nothing to think about Dami. I’m not scared of him.”

“Maybe you should be.” Damian mumbles and there’s an edge to his tone that wasn’t there before. Jason crosses his arms over his chest again and narrows his eyes at the younger.

“Why?”

“Because your life is on the line if this blows up in your face. And Michael isn’t the only person who needs you now.” Damian’s jaw is set straight and despite the fact he’d relaxed his stance, Tim could practically feel the frustration radiating from him. Jason’s eyes dart over to Tim for a moment, catching Tim’s gaze before they drop to his stomach. He rolls his shoulders back when he looks back to Damian, all within a few seconds. “This is bigger than yourself, Jason.”

The silence that follows that statement is enough to make Tim feel fidgety. Everyone’s eyes are on the two, but Tim knows that he’s getting a few looks as well thanks to Damian’s statement. He chooses not to look around the room and keeps his eyes focused on Jason. He looks stiff and uneasy now, even as he keeps his stance straight and still. It’s Ben who breaks the tension, stepping forward as he fiddles with his own fingers.

“If it’s any consolation, I’ll put myself at risk before you guys have to really step in. I… I have some powers that’ll be able to… restrain him long enough to sort out the problem.” Ben mumbles, sounding far too nervous.

“What kind of powers?” Bruce asks before anyone else can even have a chance to interject.

“Let’s hope you don’t have to find out.” Is the answer Ben decides to gives. Bruce looks like he wants to demand a proper answer, but he stops himself. Michael chews his bottom lip and steps up to Ben, resting his hand on his shoulder.

“We can handle this.” He mumbles and Ben shakes his head as he turns back to Michael.

“It’s partially my fault you’re in this mess. It’s my responsibility.” Ben sighs. Michael drops his gaze and nods in understanding, his hand lingering on Ben’s shoulder for a moment. He looks reluctant to drop his hand, and when he does he keeps his eyes cast downward.

“I’d still feel better if we had some kind of plan.” Damian grumbles.

“You can’t plan everything.” Tim sighs. He looks up at Damian, meeting his gaze. Damian sighs and slouches more against the table, tapping his fingers against his bicep as he clicks his tongue.

“We’ll be ‘right Babybat.” Jason offers but Tim knows that Jason knows the smile he gives Damian is too forced and fake. Damian tips his head back a little and closes his eyes.

“If we survive this, I’m bashing your head into a wall when this is over.”

“You have my full permission.” Jason states. Damian mumbles something under his breath, definitely in Arabic and Tim drops his gaze to the floor. This was either going to be over with tomorrow or the beginning of something much worse. Tim doesn’t have high hopes.

\- - -

Tim had been watching the clock or nearly twenty minutes now. It was stupid, he had shit he could be doing rather than worrying himself over this, but he couldn’t get himself to stop. He had been doing work, his laptop was still opened in front of him, screen black because it’d fallen asleep ages ago. His eyes were unfocused he’d been staring at the one spot for so long. In less than half an hour the others would be leaving to go confront Jack. He was on edge even as everyone else continued about their day like this was _nothing_. Tim felt like he was going to go crazy, or maybe he already had.

He’s definitely out of sorts though, because he doesn’t even notice someone else come into the room. But he’s pulled out of his thoughts when arms drape around his shoulders from over the back of the couch, pulling him back and pressing his head into their chest. Blonde hair falls into his face and his heart rate kicks in too late that he’s been grabbed. He instantly relaxes his tense muscles, stopping himself from reaching back and attacking when he realises that it’s Stephanie.

“Jesus, give a guy a heart attack, why don’t you?” Tim complains as Steph tightens her hold on him to give him a small squeeze like hug. She chuckles and kisses the top of his head before she lets him go. He turns to look up at her as she half sits on the back of the couch.

“Very rarely can I sneak up on you, I had to take the opportunity.” She boasts, sounding far too proud of herself.

“Don’t get used to it. What brings you here anyway?” Tim turns himself more on the couch, resting his elbow on the back so that he can hold his head in his hand. Stephanie swings her legs over the couch and pulls herself forward so that she drops down onto it properly, facing Tim as she copies his position.

“Little Jaybird asked if I was busy today and if I wanted to keep two misfits out of trouble for the afternoon.” She shrugs with a wide smile. Tim rolls his eyes and returns her smile.

“Of course he did.” Tim sighs with a slight drawl to his words.

“And naturally, because I’m the best kind of ex-girlfriend, I said to consider it done.” Steph winks before she pats Tim’s knee. “Now, go get yourself in something nice enough to be seen by the public eye at the least while I go find blondie two-point-oh.”

Tim shakes his head and lets out an overly dramatic sigh. “How presentable do I have to be?”

“Don’t make it obvious you’re rich, but don’t be shy in bringing Daddy’s credit card with you.” Steph pushes herself up from the couch and with a flick of her hair over her shoulder she was turning away and leaving the room. Tim shakes his head to himself and reaches out for his laptop, closing it before he collects it up from the table and gets himself up too.

When Tim gets into his room he dumps his laptop onto the bed and regretfully takes off the hoodie he’s been wearing all week. One pair of neat jeans, a plain blue shirt and a trip to the laundry later and he’s heading down into the kitchen. Jason’s leaning back against the counter with a fond smile as he listens to Steph go on about something that had happened at work the other day. Tim hovers a little in the doorway until she’s finished talking. She gives him a sceptical look and he holds out his hands.

“Good enough for you?” He asks with a raised eyebrow.

“How much did the jeans cost?” Steph points to them like she knows they’re not worth less than three digits.

“Enough,” Tim responds, like any item of clothing anyone in this house has would ever be cheap. Even Michael’s clothes tended to be fairly pricey. Steph shakes her head in amusement.

“It’s not like people aren’t going to know who you are anyway.” She waves it off as Tim steps up to them.

“Where are you taking us, if I may ask?”

“You may not.” Steph pokes her tongue out. Tim rolls his eyes and leans back against the counter next to Jason.

“Fine.”

“So, what’d they do that I have to take them off your hands anyway?” Steph asks, turning her attention back to Jason. Tim crosses his arms over his chest and looks up at him, wondering what reason he had ready for this. Much to Tim’s surprise, he’s honest about the situation.

“We’re meeting up with a psychopath that I’d rather not have them around. And considering I can’t trust either of them not to do something stupid because they’ve been sidelined, I decided they needed babysitting.” Jason shrugs. Tim narrows his eyes in a slight glare when Jason looks down at him.

“First of all, we do not need babysitting. Second, I’m offended that you don’t trust me.”

“Kinda don’t blame him, you’re really bad at listening to people.” Steph cuts in, giving him a small shrug. Tim shoots her an insulted look that she deflects with another shrug and click of her tongue.

“See? Steph would give you a babysitter too.” Jason leans into Tim’s side and presses a kiss to the top of his head even though Tim tries to lean away from the touch.

“I’d put him on a leash and still feel the need to have him locked in a room.” Steph chuckles.

“Kinky, but also not a bad idea.” Jason notes and Tim’s shoulders drop in defeat.

“I know how to pick a lock.”

“But not all locks can be picked.” Jason points out.

“Especially if they’re on the wrong side of the door.” Steph adds in. Jason smirks and holds out his hand for a high five that Steph far too enthusiastically returns. Tim looks back and forth between the two before he crosses his arms over his chest.

“You better not be planning anything like that, I’ll strangle you both.” Tim huffs.

“If you’re getting tied up in any fashion, you’re not getting locked in that room alone.” Jason purrs and Tim drops his gaze and tries to ignore what that suggestion does to him.

“Okay, we were having fun and you’ve ruined that now.” Steph groans and Jason chuckles, nudging her side.

“C’mon, you can’t say you’ve never thought about him tied up for you like a gift. You guys dated for two years.” Jason smirks wider and Tim wants to punch him in the face for it. He doesn’t have to, Steph wipes it from his face easily.

“Exactly, I don’t have to imagine nothing Jay.” She proudly states. Jason looks over at her with wide eyes and Tim has to admit the fact that his mouth falls open and a small but stupid noise escapes him is satisfying as hell. He looks back over at Tim like he surprised to be facing him.

“You’re fucking with me.” Jason gapes and as much as Tim wants to be smug about the fact that Jason’s literally slack-jawed with awe, he’s still a little embarrassed.

“He never told you? Surprised the kinky little shit hasn’t already begged you for it.” Steph snorts. Tim glares at her, even though he knows that there’s a blush across his cheeks.

“Alright, shut up Steph.” He grumbles. Steph laughs and walks over to him, petting his head like he was a dog.

“There, there. I’m gonna go find out what’s keeping Mike.” She brushes past Tim and disappears from the room. The little shit, she was walking out so that Tim was left with Jason to explain himself, as he damn well knows Jason will demand from him. He’ll have to get her back for this, big time.

Almost as soon as she’s left the room, Jason striding over to Tim and pressing into him, cupping his face so that Tim has no choice but to stare up at him. Tim swallows thickly and chews his bottom lip. “You’re kidding? You had _Steph_ tie you up and what, use you?”

“Maybe.” Tim mumbles, dropping his eyes because he can’t look back at the lust that’s in Jason’s eyes without losing his mind.

“You return the favour?”

“If I did that’s not your business.” Tim huffs. Jason licks his lips and leans into Tim’s space, a low growl rumbling in his chest.

“We’re gonna have to re-enact what happened one night.” Jason purrs and Tim closes his eyes and tries really hard not to think about it.

“Which one were you thinking?” Tim asks because he might as well give Jason more fuel at this point. Jason exhales shakily and ducks his head, chuckling to himself as he turns his head into Tim’s neck and kisses his skin.

“All of them.” Jason groans softly.

“We might need more than one night in that case.” Tim offers and Jason makes another noise and pulls back from his neck. Tim still fights back the blush on his cheeks even as he tries to give Jason a smug smirk.

“You’re fucking incredible baby.” Jason cups Tim’s face again and leans in to kiss him. Tim melts into it even as Jason’s arms tighten around his waist.

“Ewwww.” A chorus calls from the doorway. Tim rolls his eyes and happily presses himself further into Jason when he pulls him closer. “Told you they’d need a minute.” Stephanie chuckles before she chucks her purse at them. Jason manages to catch it, even though most of his focus is still on Tim. He pulls back and turns the purse in his fingers as he looks over at her and Michael stood in the doorway.

“This is mine now.”

“You can fill it up with some cash if you’d like.” Steph jokes. Jason rolls his eyes and chucks it back at her.

“C’mon Timmy, we’ve got places to be.” She states in a sing-song kind of voice before she turns around and starts heading out the room. Michael takes a moment of pause before he turns too and follows her. Tim lifts his gaze back to Jason and lets out a small sigh.

“Guess I better move my ass before she drags me out of here by my hair.”

Jason hums in agreement and leans in to press another kiss to Tim’s lips, more chaste and soft than the one before. “Okay, but if one of us hasn’t been tied up by tomorrow I’m locking you in that room for three days.”

“Promises, promises.” Tim hums as he steps out of Jason’s hold.

“You know I mean it,” Jason smirks. Tim bites his bottom lip and turns away, trying to get the idea out of his head, for now. “Stay out of trouble okay?”

“You be careful.” Tim spares a glance over his shoulder back at Jason, offering him a soft smile.

“Always. I love you.”

Tim’s smile softens, and he squashes down the urge to step back up to Jason to kiss him again. “I love you too, Jay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	40. Talk babies to me

“You probably didn’t need my help in getting yourself laid, but you’re welcome.” Steph hums as soon as Tim’s climbing into the front seat of her car. He pauses to give her a small glare before he shuts his door and reaches for his seatbelt.

“You’re right, I didn’t need your help.” Tim sighs as he settles into his seat more comfortably.

“I still can’t believe you hadn’t told him.”

“We’ve only been together for two months.”

“Like  _ that _ matters.” Steph turns to give Tim a flat look. Michael pushes himself forward and rests his arms on the backs of their seats so that he could lean into the front slightly.

“It’s not like you don’t know Dad’s been pining for you for years now.” He throws in with a light shrug. Tim chooses not to turn his attention on Michael and chews his bottom lip. Yes, he did know that, but that fact was also irrelevant.

“This doesn’t concern you.” Tim tries waving him off. Michael rolls his eyes and swats at Tim’s hand so that it’s not in his face.

“Actually, it does. You’re banging my Dad and we all know that I’m really the one who has to look after him, not the other way around. Therefore, any and all intentions you have with my father are my business.” Michael states and Tim can hear the smirk in his voice. He rests his head in his hand, mumbling to himself under his breath as he shakes his head. Stephanie snickers and nudges Tim’s side with her elbow.

“Are we one hundred percent sure that junior here isn’t biologically Jason’s?” She asks with a laugh. Michael chuckles too and watches as Tim rubs at his eyes.

“Y’know, with every passing day I become less convinced that he isn’t Jason’s.” Tim sighs even though he can’t keep back the fond smile on his face.

“You think I’m bad, imagine what the next one’s gonna be like.” Michael teases before he pushes himself back into his seat properly. Tim’s smile softens, and he looks over at Steph through the corner of his eye. She’s smiling right back at him even as she keeps the most of her focus on the road.

“Jason’s little monster, that’s for sure,” Tim mumbles as his smile refuses to go anywhere, especially when Steph reaches out to place her hand over his thigh.

\- - -

Tim’s a little sceptical when Stephanie takes them to a mall on the outskirts of Gotham. He spares Michael a confused glance as the teen leans against the back of Steph’s seat and looks out the windshield at the building in front of them as she parks the car.

“Hate to be ‘that guy’, but a shopping trip is not what I had in mind when you said Dad wanted you to kidnap us,” Michael mumbles. Steph rolls her eyes and turns her head to give Michael a sideways smirk.

“I’m not that mean.” She offers before she turns off the engine and gets out of the car. Tim shrugs when Michael gives him a weird look and gets out himself.

Tim’s pretty curious about what Stephanie has planned and so he silently follows her through the mall with Michael in tow. They make it almost to the other end of the mall when finally, Steph turns to them holding her hand out with a small ‘ta-da’ as she gestures to an arcade. Tim scoffs softly and looks over to her with a smile and a small shake of his head.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know this was here.” She admits as she starts to back into the entrance.

“Does it look like we have time to come to arcades?” Tim asks her with a raised eyebrow.

“Timmy, all you have is money and with money comes all the time in the world.” Steph tries to reason.

“Not when you’re a Wayne, apparently.” Michael scoffs. Steph clicks her tongue before she motions with her fingers for them to follow her. They head to the back of the arcade which leads into a bowling alley. Sat in the waiting area is Cass and she opens up her arms in a vague gesture when they approach her.

“What did you do for Jason to want to get rid of you?” She asks with a knowing smirk.

“We didn’t do anything.” Michael defends. Cass raises her eyebrow like she doesn’t believe him as she pushes herself to her feet.

“We’ve been sidelined.” Tim offers, and she snorts.

“Of course you have, it’s Jason.” She laughs. She steps up to Tim and pulls him into a tight hug, rubbing his back lightly. “Everything been okay?”

“Yeah, things are alright.” Tim smiles softly when she pulls back again and looks him over like she’s double checking.

“Good. Barbara would have been here, but she got called into work.” Cass turns back to Steph and Michael, keeping her hand against Tim’s back. It’s a comforting gesture, one that she uses often as a way to keep someone feeling relaxed.

“So, I was thinking a few games of pin smashing, then we could head into the arcade.” Steph tilts her head a little like she was expecting someone to disagree with that idea.

“And let me guess, this one’s on me?” Tim asks, returning her look. She grins and blinks her eyes innocently as she rests her hands on her hips.

“Don’t act for a second like your bank account would even notice if you bought yourself a damn house and new car. You can afford a day of fun, Drake.”

“Hey, I’m gonna have a whole new lot of expenses pretty soon.” Tim points out even though he’s already reaching for his wallet. There was no problem of course, but Steph always was one to see what she could get away with not paying for.

“Oh dear lord, a couple hundred bucks is really gonna make a dent in your savings.” Steph lets out an overly dramatic gasp as she gives Tim a deep pout. Cass shakes her head and looks up at Tim.

“I fully understand why you didn’t want to have to deal with that daily.” She mumbles, causing Tim to chuckle. Steph deepens her pout and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Don’t be mean.” Steph huffs.

“She’s Bruce’s favourite for a reason,” Michael mumbles as he lightly nudges Steph’s side. Tim shakes his head and holds his card out.

“How many games?”

\- - -

No one is surprised that Cass is pretty damn good at bowling. She’s good at almost anything you could put her to, and if she’s not she will make sure next time she is. Steph and Tim are kind of awful, to the point it pretty much becomes two separate games in the one, Michael trying his hardest to get as close as he can to reaching Cass’s score while Steph and Tim try to beat each other. Turns out they’re pretty evenly bad at the game. Steph lucks out with a strike at some point, but it does nothing to get her any closer to reaching a score worthy of being a challenge for Michael and Cassandra. It’s almost a relief when they’ve finished their games so that they can head into the arcade. Tim knows he’ll embarrass himself way less with the arcade games. Especially air hockey, which they’ve managed to find themselves at.

“I’m surprised we haven’t been recognised yet.” Cass offhandedly mentions as she leans against the side of the table. Tim thinks that she might have let Steph win the game they’d had to make up for how bad she was at bowling. Tim didn’t show any mercy, and he didn’t plan to for Michael either.

“No one expects to find a Wayne at an arcade.” Steph mumbles, her eyes following the puck around as fast as they can.

“How about we don’t jinx it?” Michael grumbles as he blocks the puck, the plastics colliding with a loud smacking sound.

“Don’t sweat over it, Mike.” Tim smirks and Michael makes a low noise.

“I’m not, ‘m just… trying to focus.” He frowns. Tim chuckles as he slams his striker into the puck again. Michael’s able to block the movement, but now the pucks flying around a lot faster.

“The strong, silent type. I could easily hold a conversation but it’s no fun if you’re not gonna contribute much.” Tim hums. Steph stands up straighter against his side and lightly elbows him in the side.

“Good, because I’ve got a lot to talk about.” She happily announces, sounding proud of herself.

“Should I be concerned?” Tim asks, keeping his eyes on the hockey table.

“It’s Steph, you should always be concerned.” Cass offers. Tim smirks as Steph rolls her eyes.

“Rude. I just wanted to talk about Drake junior.” Steph shrugs slightly, leaning more against the table as she looks up at Tim. Tim pauses for a moment, enough to almost get distracted from the game. Almost.

“What’s to talk about?”

“Um, a lot? Did you forget that you’re pregnant? I wanna know how that’s been going.” Steph states like it should have been obvious. Tim sucks on his bottom lip for a moment.

“Fine, I guess. I don’t know what you want me to say.” Tim risks a glance up at her and takes the fall for it when Michael scores a goal. Tim grumbles under his breath, something about distractions but no one else cares as he sets the puck back on the table and starts up the game again.

“Well, how have you been feeling? C’mon Tim, don’t be boring.” Steph presses. Tim sighs and reminds himself to keep his focus.

“You’re two months along, has morning sickness been a pain or were you fortunate enough to bypass that?” Cass throws in to try and prompt him on. He knows he can’t get out of it now, he might as well talk about it, he knows there isn’t going to be anyone eavesdropping.

“God  _ no _ . It’s been a nightmare. I mean, could be worse if it happened at random during the day, but so far, it’s been kind enough to stay as morning sickness. But I can’t drink coffee because the smell makes me sick.” Tim mumbles. Steph makes a noise of pity and rubs his back, and even though he knows she’s being slightly taunting about it, it’s still nice.

“That’s gotta suck, you live off coffee.” Cass notes.

“Yeah, the withdrawal hasn’t been too bad though. Jason makes me hot chocolates all the time which I think my body is okay with having as a substitute.” Tim smirks when the buzzer for the hockey table goes off and he has three points over Michael. Michael huffs out a frustrated sigh and flicks the puck over Tim’s way and he stops it from sliding into the goal.

“Any cravings yet?” Cass asks as she steps up to Tim’s place, sliding a token into the coin slot in the table to start up a new game. Tim moves over to stand beside Steph and happily leans his head on her shoulder when she rests her hand on his side.

“Not yet, though I’m already dreading the idea of what they’ll entitle.” Tim sighs. Michael lifts his gaze as he gets ready for Cass to start the match.

“You know what the wives tale is right? Sweet cravings mean it’s a girl and salty cravings for a boy.” He mentions.

“Yeah, I’m not going to put my judgement in that.”

“Have you thought much about the gender? Have you discussed names with Jason yet?” Steph asks and Tim snorts.

“Not particularly. It’s way too early to be thinking about names.”

“It’s never too early.” She argues. Tim lifts his head from her shoulder so that he can look at her. He bites the inside of his bottom lip before he drops his gaze again, bringing his hand to rest against the bottom of his stomach.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I’ve barely thought about the fact that being pregnant means that I’m going to have a baby.” Tim mumbles. Thinking about names wasn’t something he wanted to do, not until he was at least five months along. Cass lifts her gaze, catching Tim’s attention, and he can see the concern in her eyes.

“I know you’re scared, but you can’t be waiting for something to go wrong. You have to think positively, and I know that’s not always easy, but you have to for your own sake.” Tim knows she’s right, that he should try to be more positive about this, but he doesn’t think he can until he’s past the first trimester and out of that danger zone. He chews his bottom lip and averts his gaze again.

“How’re you gonna go about checks up? Surely you don’t have everything you need, y’know where.” Steph asks. Tim sighs again and reaches up to run his fingers through his hair.

“I’ve been asking myself that lately. I’m… I’m gonna have to talk to Bruce, see what he thinks.”

“The last thing you need is for some doctor to go blabbing.” Steph mumbles. Tim shakes his head slowly and wraps his arms around himself slightly.

“That’s just the thing, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep this out of the public forever.”

And that was probably the most terrifying thing concerning this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	41. Confrontation

They end up back at the manor just after six. Alfred is the only person there to greet them and it makes the worry tighten in Tim’s chest. He didn’t want to think about all the things that could have gone wrong, but that’s obviously where his mind goes. Cass and Steph try to keep him distracted with conversation, but they know it’s not helping. Even Michael’s energy has dropped dramatically. It takes about fifteen minutes before Tim’s anxiety is pushing him into complete panic. He tries to calmly excuse himself from the conversation and room, but the others know that he’s on edge. He closes himself away in his room and tries to slow the pounding of his heart and takes a gamble at calling Jason. He chews his nails as his worry grows. Jason doesn’t answer, and he nearly snaps. He sits on the edge of his bed and tries to calm down, closing his eyes as he tries to just breathe.

It’s not long before there’s a timid knock at his door and despite the fact that he can’t swallow the lump in his throat to answer, Steph still pokes her head in. She doesn’t say anything at first, taking in the mess he’s in as she cautiously closes the door behind her and moves over to him. She sits down next to him and lightly rests her hand on his thigh. Tim tries to even out his breathing, but something sets off more panic in his mind and his chest tightens. It forces a shaky sob from his throat and before he’s even noticed the fact that he’s on the verge of tears, Steph’s turning him into her body and hugging him close.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’re going to be okay.” She whispers, running her fingers lightly through his hair. He swallows thickly and squeezes his eyes shut, trying to hold back from breaking down completely and crying pathetically. He clutches to Steph’s shirt, feeling like there was still too much space between them, despite the fact that he’s completely pressed into her body and she’s holding him back just as tight. “Alfred explained what was going on, to some extent.”

Steph turns her head into Tim’s. She presses a soft kiss to his hair before she nuzzles into him in the same way he nuzzles into her shoulder. “Jason’s gonna be fine, despite his tendency to pull stupid shit, he has something he knows he needs to come home to, someone he needs to come home to. He’s going to be okay, he’ll do it for you.”

Tim wishes that was enough to ease his mind. But he couldn’t stop thinking about how out of Jason’s control this situation could get, no matter who was there to cover his back. Jack didn’t sound like someone who was going to just roll over and surrender at the first signs of trouble. If anything, he was probably someone who was spurred on by the idea of a challenge. And that was a terrifying thought on its own. Tim pulls back from Steph’s shoulder, snuffling and sighing softly to himself as he rubs at his eyes. Steph lifts her hand and cups his cheek lightly.

“I need him,” Tim mumbles because there’s not much else he can say, and it’s the only thing he can think about right now. He needed Jason, his baby needed Jason. Being so dependant on one person was terrifying, but that just was how his life was turning out to be. Jason was someone to ground him, someone to rely on, someone he knew was going to look after him when he couldn’t look after himself.

“I know,” Steph responds simply. Tim can hear the hint of a sigh in her tone that she’d tried not to let slip up. She drops her gaze and her hand falls away from his face. “If Jason didn’t think he could handle this, he wouldn’t have done it.”

“He had no choice. It was either him or Michael, he knew the risks.” Tim bites his bottom lip harder and squeezes his eyes shut again.

“Which is why the others are with him. Tim, I know it’s hard, but you need to stop thinking so negatively.”

“I’m not Steph, I’m  _ worried _ . This was a bad situation from the start.” Tim mutters, his worry building into frustration. He grips his hair and pulls slightly on the strands, letting out a heavy sigh. “I’m not just worried about Jason, I’m worried about all of them. If things get out of hand they’ll be in over their heads, this isn’t just some average psychopath. We’re  _ used _ to that sort of crazy but this…” He cuts himself off and drops his head forward into his hands as he lets out a weak sound.

“They’ll be okay.” Steph tries to assure, but her tone doesn’t sound as sure as it had before. Tim sucks his bottom lip into his mouth again and tries not to think about it.

\- - -

Alfred calls them down for dinner at seven. As much as Tim doesn’t feel like eating, he knows exactly what Jason would say if he was there. Despite having Cass and Steph join them, the place feels so empty without the others there. Even Alfred looks to be on edge and clearly uneasy about the situation. Tim thinks maybe they could have checked the news or something to see if there was anything. He was more concerned about there being something terrible than not hearing anything. Not knowing was somehow the best option.

It starts getting late enough that Cass mentions that she’ll have to leave soon because she has work tomorrow. Steph reluctantly agrees with the statement. Tim hasn’t moved from his seat yet, Steph had taken his plate over to the sink and he’d felt a little bad about it, but he can’t seem to get himself to move. There was too much fear clogging up his throat, making him feel like he was dying.

Tim nearly jumps out of his chair when the faint sound of voices resonates from through the manor. Steph visibly relaxes and offers him a soft smile as she lets out a small laugh. “I told you they’d be fine.”

Tim barely hears her though because he’s pushing himself up from his chair with tunnel vision. The others follow him as they head for the source of the voices, meeting the others in the lounge room. They look a little worse for wear, but they were here, they were okay, Tim had never felt more relieved. Jason’s smile is somewhat sad but still soft and  _ loving _ and Tim nearly breaks down again at seeing him okay. He doesn’t even hesitate in stepping right up to Jason and instantly hugging him. Jason grunts softly when Tim’s arms wrap too tight around his body, even though he rests his hands on Tim’s waist and buries his face in Tim’s neck.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” Jason sighs, turning his head enough to kiss Tim’s neck softly. Tim lets out a shaky breath and squeezes his eyes shut.

“I was worried sick, Jay.” Tim mumbles, tightening his hold further. Jason makes a low pained noise and pushes at Tim’s hips slightly. Tim loosens his hold instantly and pulls back, looking Jason over.

“I know. I’m sorry. And I’m okay, just a little banged up.” Jason offers, though his smile looks so much more exhausted than it had before.

“What happened?” Tim asks, looking around at the others. He hadn’t noticed that Damian had bruises lining the left side of his jaw, or that Ben was pretty dishevelled, looking like he’s just crawled out of a war zone. Tim’s chest tightens again with worry even though Michael’s fussing over Ben already, mumbling quietly to him.

“Let’s just say he wasn’t happy to see us,” Dick mumbles, scratching at the back of his neck.

“It’s over now.” Jason throws in before anything else can be said like he was putting a lid on the conversation. Tim takes it, for now, he was just happy they were for the most part, okay.

“Talk later, I’m starving.” Damian mumbles, sounding just as exhausted as Jason.

“Dinner will need heating, but it won’t take long.” Alfred offers and he’s quick to turn on his toes and make his way back toward the kitchen. Everyone else starts to follow after him. Tim goes to step away from Jason, only for the hold on his hip to tighten as Jason pulls him back into his chest. Tim hugs him again, being mindful not to hold on too tight this time. Jason tilts his head and gives him a soft kiss.

“I’m sorry I worried you, and that I didn’t return your call.”

“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re back.” Tim sighs, closing his eyes as he rests his forehead against Jason’s.

“You can thank Ben for that.” Jason huffs. Tim lifts his gaze before he turns his head to follow Jason’s own gaze and look over to the teen. Ben clicks his tongue and drops his gaze with a small shrug of his shoulder.

“I just did what I had to.” He mumbles. Michael looks back and forth between the two, chewing his bottom lip.

“I know it wasn’t easy. I’m sorry it turned out the way it did.” Jason mumbles as he holds Tim close to his side. Ben shrugs again and looks back up at him with a somewhat timid smile.

“I’m just glad it’s over.” He admits, and Jason makes a noise of agreement. He turns his attention to Michael and motions for him to come over. He steps into Jason’s other side and almost eagerly hugs him back. Tim keeps his head rested on Jason’s other shoulder, despite feeling like maybe he should give them a moment.

“I’m sorry.” Michael mumbles and Jason shakes his head.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. This was all on me.” Jason sighs. “I should have known something like this would happen. I made a lot of enemies for myself. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for something to come back and bite me in the ass.”

“You made a lot of enemies who are smart enough to know not to come back at you.” Michael offers with a smirk. Jason scoffs and ruffles his hair slightly.

“Probably.”

“So… what happens now?” Michael asks, looking back over to Ben. He looks uncomfortable and for a moment Tim wonders what Michael’s talking about.

“We’re not perfect, I’m not going to hold anything against you. I can’t speak for Bruce though.” Jason offers, and it clicks. Because Ben’s sort of one of the bad guys, one of the guys they should be locking up. Ben relaxes a little and nods.

“Thanks. I know I don’t make it easy for you guys.” Ben chuckles, sounding a little too nervous.

“Hey, I wasn’t much better only a few years ago.” Jason mentions with a light shrug. And he’s right, to some extent.

Murder was murder, but Jason had never gone to the levels that Tim has gathered Ben’s gone too. Evil breeds evil, murderers breed more murderers. Tim wouldn’t put Ben under the ‘evil’ category, but he’d go far enough to say that if the GCPD caught Ben, he couldn’t be surprised to see him end up getting thrown in Arkham. Jack… he might list him as borderline evil, a psychopath who was being saved as much as others were by having him locked up. Ben clearly had a sense of what was wrong and what was too far. He had reasoning, he didn’t kill innocent bystanders. He killed the people Jason might kill if he was still in that game. It’s not easy to have good morals when the people around you don’t, so Tim’s surprised he has any humility left.

“Just don’t let the cops catch you.” Tim offers. Ben huffs out a weird sounding chuckle and plays with the long ends of his hair.

“I’m pretty good at avoiding cops, been doing it for most my life.” Ben mumbles and something about how regretful he sounds makes Tim feel a little uneasy. Ben was still a kid, as much as Michael was and he’s spent his life on the run from cops, surrounded by drug trades and murder, participating in most of it because it was the life he was forced to live. Suddenly, Ben lets out a chuckle and stands up taller, squaring his shoulders as he puts on a fake smile. “Pretty sure I’ll be doing it for the rest of my life too.”

“You don’t have to.”

“It’s what I know and… Dad’s all I have.” Ben sighs, running his fingers through his hair again. Tim notices the way Michael seems to tense at that. There’s a moment where he doesn’t seem to know what to do, before he steps away from Jason’s side and reaches out, his hand coming to rest on Ben’s side.

“No, he isn’t.” Michael mumbles and something about the way he says it makes it seem a little more intimate than Tim would think. Ben averts his gaze and lets out a small sigh.

“You know what I mean, Mike.” Ben mumbles, lifting his hand to grab hold of Michael’s wrist and prompting him to drop his hand away.

“If it’s any consolation, and I know it’s not much, but you can always come to us, for anything.” Jason offers. Ben drops his head with a little sound, chewing his bottom lip slightly.

“Thanks.” The relief in Ben’s voice is just as unsettling as the regret had been. Jason tilts his head back and motions for the two to step back over. And they do, and Tim can see the unease in Ben at the slight show of affection as Jason wraps his arm around the two, keeping Tim pressed into his other side.

“I know what you mean to Mike, I’ll make sure you’re always welcome here.” Jason speaks in a low voice and it even calms Tim some hearing it.

“Thank you, Jason.” Ben’s voice is a little weak. It was obvious he wasn’t used to this kind of thing. He wasn’t used to people openly caring about him, or people showing support. Tim hears Michael whispering a low thanks as well. He knew that Ben was Michael’s best friend, he knew what they meant to each other. He didn’t know just how important Ben was to Michael.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	42. Right here, with you

Steph and Cass leave while the others are eating. Jason thanks them for sticking around and making sure that Tim and Michael were okay. Nothing else is said about what had happened with Jack, and Tim was starting to get a little nervous about it. Everyone else is clearly exhausted so Tim doesn’t try and push anything. Michael says he’s going to go on patrol and Ben joins him. Tim considers going out as well, but there’s so much he wants to talk to Jason about that he decides not to. Despite their exhaustion, Dick and Bruce go out for a quick patrol. Damian grumbles something about a bummed shoulder and stays home.

Jason isn’t at all hesitant to forgo any other activities besides a shower. He doesn’t offer for Tim to join him, which shouldn’t be unnerving, but it sort of is. Tim waits in his room, knowing that Jason will come looking for him once he’s finished. He comes into Tim’s room in only his underwear. Tim’s eyes instantly fall to his bare chest and the bruises across his skin. He shifts forward to the edge of the bed and reaches out to rest his hands lightly against Jason’s torso before he can climb into bed. Tim’s touch is slow and careful as he maps out the discolouration.

“I’m fine,” Jason mumbles without Tim having said anything. He lifts his gaze and drops his hand away from Jason’s body, folding his hands in his lap. Jason chews his bottom lip for a moment before he kneels down between Tim’s legs, letting out a small noise of discomfort. Tim reaches out to rest his hand in Jason’s hair, knowing there’s nothing much he can do to ease Jason’s pain. Jason looks up at him again and offers a weak smile. “What about you?”

“I’m okay, now that I know you are,” Tim admits. Jason’s smile softens and he rests his hands against Tim’s thighs, rubbing slow circles into his muscles with his thumbs. Jason drops his gaze and shuffles forward a little as he leans in to press a kiss to Tim’s stomach. He keeps his face pressed against Tim’s body and his hands slide around Tim’s sides and press into his lower back.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about you. The whole time, I just… it was you, Tim. You and your baby and the thought that I  _ had _ to come back to you.” Jason mumbles, his voice just clear enough for Tim to hear him. “You say you need me… you have no idea how much I need you.”

Tim sucks in his bottom lip and averts his gaze, even though Jason isn’t looking at him. He can feel Jason press more kisses to his stomach and it makes his chest feel like it’s far too tight. Jason gives him a small squeeze as he pushes his forehead into Tim, letting out a heavy sigh. “I’ve never been scared like that, thinking that maybe I’d never get to see your baby… I was terrified.”

“What happened, Jason?” Tim gives in and asks.

Obviously, it was nothing good. He understood why they didn’t want to talk about it, why Jason had made a point of making sure that conversation ended before it even had a chance to start. But he needed to know, he wouldn’t be able to relax until he knew what had happened with Jack. Jason lets out a soft sigh and turns his head, pressing the side of his head to Tim’s stomach.

“He lashed out. When I told him what his options were, he’d  _ laughed _ . Like I was crazy, I mean I probably am to some extent, but he laughed like he thought I was joking. I made it pretty clear I wasn’t. He’d tried to get Ben to side with him and when he didn’t… it was like his mind snapped.

“I’ve seen crazy, I’ve seen  _ monsters _ , hell, I’ve been one…” Jason lifts his head and stares up at Tim with something close to a pained expression. “I’ve never seen someone so violent toward their own son. The things he said, the things he  _ threatened _ … And Ben just… it was like he’d heard it all before.

“My dad might have beat me, but the shit he did was like fucking child's play compared to the shit Jack was threatening. Hell, I’d give the Joker another chance to beat me to death before I’d let Jack near me. At least Joker had the decency to kill me afterwards.” Jason sighs as he pulls back and runs his hand through his hair.

“Obviously that’s when we jumped in, before he could actually put actions to his words. He was fast though, we wouldn’t have been able to overpower him without Ben there. He took the most of it, saved my ass, and Damian’s. He’s just a kid, Tim, he shouldn’t have had to make that call.” Jason keeps his gaze cast downward.

“What do you mean?” Tim frowns as he runs his fingers through Jason’s hair again. Jason was tense, and Tim wanted to do the best he could to help with that in some way.

“…Jack can regenerate so Ben… shot him. I think the worst part about it was that Ben looked relieved that he had, like it had been something he’d wanted to do.” Jason sighs and tilts his head into Tim’s touch. Tim chews his lip and averts his eyes again. The thought was unsettling, though given what he knows about Jack and what he can only assume he’d said, he doesn’t really blame Ben.

“What happened then?”

“We restrained him and called in the cops. He had his chance, he lost it, he  _ made _ his choice. He’s in Arkham but I doubt we’ve seen the last of him.” Jason lets out another sigh and drops his head onto Tim’s thigh. He looks up at the younger with a forced smile. “It’s over, for now at least.”

“What’s Ben gonna do?” Tim asks, a little worried. Ben had no one else, no other family and nowhere to go.

“I don’t know. He said he’d work it out. Bruce… I think he wanted to put Ben right with Jack.”

“He  _ can’t _ . Ben’s just a kid, regardless of what he’s done he’s not… he’s not like Jack. If he was, Michael would be dead.” Tim mumbles. Jason lifts his head and pushes himself up on his knees, straightening his back.

“I know, it’s a scary thought but… Ben won’t hurt Michael, I know he won’t.” Jason reaches up to cup the side of Tim’s neck now that they were somewhat more level in height. Tim covers Jason’s hand with his own and offers Jason a sad, yet soft smile.

“They’re pretty protective of each other.” Tim states and Jason scoffs.

“You weren’t even there today.” He shakes his head slightly, a somewhat fond smile coming across his face. “You didn’t hear what he said.”

“And what was that?” Tim asks with a raised eyebrow. Jason gives a light shake of his head, dropping his gaze with another soft scoff as he smiles to himself.

“I don’t think I should repeat it, was kinda private.” Jason looks back up at Tim and he bites his bottom lip. “Though I might have to rough Mike up a bit.”

“How about you don’t get too involved in their… whatever it is?” Tim chuckles and Jason’s smile widens.

“As his father, I am duty-bound to get involved in all of his whatever’s.” Jason states. Tim chuckles again, shaking his head softly as he reaches up to cup Jason’s cheek and the back of his head. His smile softens before he leans down and presses a soft kiss to his lips.

“I’m just happy you’re okay.” He mumbles, his voice almost a whisper. Jason lightly runs the back of his fingers over Tim’s cheek as he rests his other hand against Tim’s belly.

“Yeah,” He breathes as he pushes himself up into Tim again for another kiss. Tim frames Jason’s face in his hands as he deepens the kiss. Jason hums into it and drops his hand to join the other against Tim’s belly, thumbs stroking over the slight curve. When he pulls back again, he keeps his eyes closed and lets out a soft sigh.

“C’mon soldier, I think some sleep is needed.” Tim hums, running his fingers through Jason’s hair lightly again. Jason makes a small noise and tilts his head back to follow the movement of Tim’s hand.

“I’ve had a hellish day babe, the one place I want to be right now is exactly where I am.” Jason offers, his lip turned up into a sideways smile as he settles down between Tim’s legs again, resting his head on his thigh once more.

“Well,  _ I’m _ tired.” Tim sighs. Jason pouts and turns his head to nuzzle his nose into the inside of his thigh.

“It’s always about you,” Jason grumbles before he tilts his head and presses a firm kiss against Tim’s leg. Tim chews his bottom lip and leans back on his hands with a small sigh.

“That’s your choice,” Tim notes and he can see Jason’s grin even though his mouth is still against his leg, that’s how wide it is.

“Ladies first, amiright?” Jason asks, turning his head enough to look up at Tim again. Tim’s face drops and he gives Jason a flat, unimpressed glare. Jason snorts and turns his head back into Tim’s lap and mouths at his thigh, dangerously close to Tim’s cock.

“Jay…” Tim mumbles, disregarding Jason’s comment for the moment. Jason makes a low humming noise as he shuffles forward more and slides his hands over Tim’s thighs and around to his ass. He lifts his gaze as he leans forward into Tim more.

“Let me know now if you don’t wanna do this.” Jason’s tone is low, his voice smooth with the hint of lust. Tim chews his bottom lip again and shifts his hips a little, lifting them from the bed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jason.” He hums and Jason returns his smirk.

Jason tucks his fingers under the waistband of Tim’s pants and slides them down over the curve of his ass. Tim spreads his thighs a little wider once Jason has his clothing around his ankles. He keeps his hands to himself for now as Jason pushes up the bottom of his shirt and leans in to press a soft kiss to Tim’s belly. Jason moves his hand from Tim’s thigh to his cock. He’s not even semi-hard yet, but Jason doesn’t hesitate to start working on that. He slowly strokes Tim’s cock, thumb swiping over the tip with every twist of his wrist on the upward stroke. Tim chews his bottom lip as he keeps his focus on watching Jason kiss across his stomach.

Jason’s lips are soft and his kisses are slow like he’s dragging them out, making sure Tim can feel each one to its fullness. Tim tips his head to the side a little, his toes curling when Jason gives a few faster tugs of his cock. The head of his cock is slightly wet with pre-come now and he’s almost fully hard. Jason knew how to work Tim’s cock perfectly to get him hard with little effort. Jason lifts his gaze as he pulls away from kissing Tim’s belly, a small smile across his lips.

“You’re so beautiful.” He praises and Tim fights back a smile as he reaches up to run his fingers through Jason’s hair. He pushes back the white of his fringe into the rest of his hair, watching as it springs back into place again.

“You’re not too bad looking yourself.” Tim teases and Jason’s smile morphs into a smirk. He shifts himself back on his knees slightly and lowers his head to level it with Tim’s cock.

“What about now?” He asks, breath fanning over Tim’s cock as he tilts his head to the side and mouths at the length lightly. Tim lets out a small breathy noise as Jason teases his lips against his cock.

“Are you implying that the sight of you with a cock in your face should be more attractive?”

“Is it not?” Jason raises an eyebrow in question. Of course, Jason looked amazing on his knees for him, mouthing at the side of his cock in such a teasing manner, but Tim didn’t have to admit it. Tim makes a small humming noise and runs his hand further back into Jason’s hair.

“Would look better between your lips.” Tim states. Jason’s hand squeezes lightly around the base of Tim’s cock, making it twitch and leak a little more pre-come. He leans in and swipes his bottom lip over the sticky mess, slicking up his lips and making them shine. Tim’s chest stutters with his breathing at the sight. Jason slides his lips over the tip, his bottom lip getting caught on the head slightly and pulling his lips apart. “Fucking hell Jay.”

Jason holds back his smirk so he doesn’t ruin the image of him looking as innocent as he can pull off as he teases the head of Tim’s cock with just the tip of his tongue. When a small whining noise gets caught in Tim’s chest, resulting in him biting his bottom lip as he squirms a little on the bed, Jason finally gives him what he wants. He keeps his eyes on Tim as his mouth falls open and he closes his lips over the head of Tim’s cock. He gives it a few soft sucks as he slowly strokes his hand over the rest of the length. Tim’s grip in his hair tightens and he lets out another breathy sound that has Jason’s cock twitching painfully in his pants.

Jason lets his eyes fall closed as he puts more effort into sucking and swirling his tongue around the head. The taste of Tim’s pre-come has him fighting back small moans as he licks it up, tilting his head back and forth every so often to get another angle that has Tim’s nails digging slightly into his scalp. He finally drops his hand away from Tim’s cock, knowing that now he’s worked up Tim enough that it’ll be a breeze to get him off. He keeps his eyes closed as he takes in an easy and slow breath before he works his mouth over Tim’s length fully.

“God.” Tim moans softly, tipping his head back for a moment as he takes in the feeling of Jason’s mouth around his cock. Jason makes a low humming noise as he presses himself harder against Tim’s cock, forcing himself not to gag when it twitches against the back of his throat. He pulls up slightly with a wet sound, taking in another deep breath before he starts bobbing his head at a slower than normal pace over Tim’s cock. Tim drops his head forward again and watches as Jason’s sucks him off.

Tim leans back, on one hand, holding Jason’s hair still in the other as he lightly guides Jason’s head on and off his cock. Jason keeps humming lowly to give that extra stimulation. He swirls his tongue when he pulls back, working at the head and slit of Tim’s cock before he sucks him back down almost fully into his mouth. Tim’s focus is a little hazy as he watches Jason, toes curling into the carpet as he tries not to thrust his hips up into Jason’s face and throw off his rhythm. Jason’s hand falls away from Tim’s thigh and he opens up his own pants, pulling his cock free so that he can stroke himself in time with the movements of his head over Tim’s cock. He’s dribbling a considerable amount of pre-come and he knows the front of his underwear is soaked through with it.

Tim’s grip on Jason’s hair tightens and he throws his head back again with a loud moan, his back arching slightly when Jason takes him into his throat again. Tim tugs at Jason’s hair more and manages to pull his cock free from his mouth. Jason looks up at him with a lustful gaze, his lips slick with spit as he pants softly over Tim’s cock. “C’mere.”

Jason pushes himself up from his knees instantly, still stroking his cock firmly as he presses himself into Tim’s body. Tim wraps his arms around Jason’s shoulders and pushes himself back on the bed a little. Jason towers over him, panting softly between the rough kisses that Tim presses to his lips. Tim spreads his legs a little before he throws one over Jason’s hip, pulling his body closer into his own. Jason drops both his hands to the bed so that he can balance himself as he grinds down into Tim’s body, their cocks sliding together perfectly. Tim curses softly before he kisses Jason forcefully again.

He runs his hand down Jason’s chest and stomach, touch light enough to makes Jason shiver. He wraps his hand around both of their cocks, holding them firmly together as he starts stroking. Jason tips his head back with a moan and Tim takes the chance to tilt his head into Jason’s neck and suck on his skin. Jason’s hips continue to grind down into Tim’s as best they can while Tim jerks them off, his hold firm and strokes fast.

It gets Jason’s thighs shaking, his breathing increasing enough that his chest heaves with his ragged breaths. Tim moans into Jason’s neck, tightening his hold around Jason’s shoulders as he tries to press his own hips up into his hand and Jason’s own hips to get that little bit more. A continuous string of noise leaves Jason’s mouth as he pants and moans. Tim pulls back from Jason’s neck and looks up at the older with a hooded gaze. Jason’s head is tipped forward, his lips parted, mouth hanging open slightly as sounds of pleasure fall from his mouth. His eyes are shut, brow furrowed together as he rocks his body into Tim’s fist. He’s gorgeous and the sight has Tim’s cock twitching in his hand before he’s coming.

He grunts softly, followed up by a deep moan as he comes over his own fist and stomach, the added slick making it easier for him to jerk Jason off faster. Jason throws his head back, his hips pushing down hard into Tim’s body and jolting him slightly as he cries out. He comes all over Tim’s belly and chest, his fists tightening in the sheets as his orgasm rips over him. Tim manages to keep stroking him through it, even as the high of his own orgasm starts to delve into exhaustion. He tips his own head back and lets out a deep sigh, eyes falling closed as his cock gives a final twitch and it’s spent.

He drops his hand away from their cocks, fully okay with Jason continuing to grind down against him slowly as he regains his breath and his arms stop shaking. He looks down at Tim, still panting softly and stares with lidded eyes at his face. Tim swallows thickly and opens his eyes, catching Jason’s stare and returning his dopey smile. Jason leans down and presses a soft and lingering kiss to Tim’s lips, making a small noise of contentment when Tim wraps his arms loosely around his shoulders again.

“I needed that.” Jason sighs when he pulls back. Tim makes a sound of agreement as he drops his leg from being around Jason’s waist and tips his head back again.

“I know how much beating up bad guys turns you on,” Tim notes with a soft chuckle. Jason hums before he pushes himself up, swiping his thumb over Tim’s bottom lip and collecting up a smudge of spit from his own mouth that had been passed on by their kiss.

“Don’t move.” He states and Tim makes a low noise like he had no plan to.

Jason moves over to the other side of the room and collects up a few tissues, cleaning off his own cock as he moves back over to the bed before he cleans up Tim. Once he’s come free again, Jason bends down and presses another firm kiss to Tim’s belly before he straightens up and offers Tim his hand once he’s discarded the dirty tissues. Tim takes his hand and he slowly pulls him up so he’s sitting before he wraps his arms around Tim’s waist and hoists him up against his body. Jason makes a low noise of strain as he awkwardly crawls into the bed with Tim in his arms and places the younger almost in the centre of the bed. Tim snorts out a small laugh and shakes his head lightly as Jason flops down next to him.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Tim notes and Jason makes another weird noise into the pillow he’d gracefully face planted into.

Tim shakes his head again and reaches over for the bedside lamp and turns it off before he settles back into bed, pulling the covers over himself as best he can when Jason’s still laying on them. He reaches over and lightly runs his fingers through Jason’s hair with a soft smile on his face. Jason turns his head slightly to look up at Tim, his eyes attempting to adjust to the darkness as best they can. He slides his hand over the bed and finds Tim’s side, running his hand over his skin to rest his palm lightly against Tim’s belly again. Tim closes his eyes and lets the warm feeling of Jason’s hand on his skin soak in.

“I love you, Tim.” Jason whispers. Tim tilts his head to look down at Jason again.

“I love you too.”

Jason pushes himself up so that he can get under the covers too and pulls Tim closer to his body. He keeps his arm over Tim’s stomach as he presses his face into the side of Tim’s neck and lets himself relax. He was home, in the one place with the one person he wanted to be with most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	43. Broken birds

Tim asks Dick if he’s okay to do a patrol with him a few nights later. Unlike Jason and Damian, Dick came out pretty unscathed for the situation, which Tim isn’t too surprised about. He imagines Dick would have been smart enough not to try and bite off more than he can chew in a fight, while Jason and Dami tried to not only stop Jack but make sure no one else got hurt while it happened. Dick agrees, and Tim knows it’s more because he knows Jason is more okay with Tim patrolling with someone else than the fact that he himself is worried about Tim.

Or maybe he knows that they need to talk, which would be beneficial. It doesn’t make talking about it any easier though.

Patrol goes pretty easy for them, there’s nothing major going on and Bruce had taken that suspected court case off of Tim’s to do list so there wasn’t that for him to go delving into. It was a little annoying because he’d have preferred to continue working on the case to completion, but he understands that it’s for the best if he helps out from the safety of the Cave on that one. Nightwing and Red Robin don’t run into much trouble, they spend more time looking for something than getting in the middle of fights, deals or anything else. It takes nearly the whole night before Tim’s finally able to get himself to stop and remind himself there’s a reason he asked Dick to patrol with him. They stop on a rooftop for a break and Tim sits on the ledge and stares out over the city, trying to sort out the mess of his mind. Dick hasn’t sat down, which is unnerving on its own. The fact that he’s pacing makes it worse.

Tim finally sucks in a breath and turns from where he’s sitting and looks over to the elder. Dick pauses when he notices Tim watching him and his tense shoulders drop with a soft sigh. He chews his bottom lip as he walks over to Tim, standing before him. He looks away and Tim knows if the mask wasn’t between them, he’d be able to see shame in Dick’s eyes.

“I’m guessing Jason told you. About… what I’d said.” He mumbles. Tim lets out a soft sigh and runs his fingers through his hair.

“Yeah… he did.”

“Tim… I’m so sorry. And I know that Jason is who I should be apologising to and I did, I have, but there’s no excuse. What I said… I’m a fucking asshole. I don’t deserve to be forgiven.” Dick sighs as he starts pacing again.

“Don’t say that. You didn’t mean it-”

“I  _ never _ should have said it! Jason’s an amazing person. Hell, he’s better than I am, in a lot of ways.” Dick growls at himself and turns away from Tim completely, balling his hands into tight fists, looking like he’s going to punch whatever is closest. He doesn’t and the strain in his shoulders drop again.

“What… what was going through your head when you said it?” Tim asks as he pushes himself up from the ledge. He’s cautious to step over to Dick, not wanting to get in his space too much.

“I was angry, I was frustrated.”

“That’s not what I asked.” Tim presses. Dick lets out a deep sigh and drops his head forward, resting it against the wall as his arms fall limp at his sides.

“Kon… he hurt you… but so did Jason. And I know Jason hasn’t hurt you in years, I know he’s changed but… Jason isn’t okay. You know that Tim. Jason will never be okay. Who’s to say that he won’t snap again one day? All I could think about is in a year’s time you’re back here, only it’s Jason, not Kon.” Dick sighs and turns his head slightly. “I love Jason, I trust him with my life, but knowing he hurt you… I’ve never been able to forgive him for it, Tim. I’ve tried to get over it… but he tried to kill you.”

“It wasn’t personal Dick and you know that. If by chance I never became Robin and Damian was older, became Robin when Jason was still gone, it would have been Damian. It didn’t matter who was wearing that suit, Dick. Jason was angry with Bruce, he wanted to have back what was rightfully his. He was scared, he’d been beaten to death, Dick.

“The one person who had given him everything wasn’t the person who was there when he woke up again, wasn’t the person to bring him back and help him. It had nothing to do with me, it was Robin. No matter who was in that suit, Jason wanted them dead.” Tim mumbles. He knows that Dick knows he’s right. To Jason, it was never about Tim. It was about  _ him _ , he just wanted his life back.

“He raped you, Tim,” Dick mumbles as a final attempt to have his feelings justified.

“It wasn’t rape! Dick… I was stupid. I fucked up too.” Tim defends, feeling anger crawling under his skin.

“If you weren’t infatuated with him, it would have been.” Dick pulls away from the wall and stands before Tim, looking more frustrated and confused than Tim would have thought. Tim sighs and wraps his arms around himself, dropping his gaze.

“The only reason Jason did it was because he  _ knew _ I was into him. Jason never has been and never will be that kind of person.” Tim shakes his head slightly.

“He still did it.” Dick pushes.

“He wanted Bruce to find out, he wanted to scare me. He wanted me to quit, Dick.”

“He hurt you.” Dick keeps trying.

“I hurt him!” Tim finally snaps. His shoulders shake and he rests his hand against his forehead. There’s a small pause.

“How?” Dick asks, sounding like he doesn’t believe him.

“I stole the only thing he’d ever had in his life that meant something from him! As soon as he came back I should have stepped down. I had no right to let him suffer feeling like he didn’t matter. Everything Jason did to me was a reaction to what I had done by becoming Robin. I could have made my own name, I could have been anything,  _ anyone _ and I tried to be him! I deserved everything Jason did to me because I was the one provoking it.” Tim tries not to raise his voice too much, but he’s pretty worked up over this. He was done with everyone including Jason himself acting like Tim wasn’t to blame for anything that happened between them. Because it was a lie, Tim was the antagonist to his own story.

Dick doesn’t seem to know what to say. Tim can tell that he’s frustrated, maybe he’s even angry, but he also looks so tired and confused.  _ Hurt _ . Because he was the person who didn’t save Jason, he was the person who didn’t help Tim. He was meant to be there for both of them and he wasn’t. Tim swallows thickly and turns away from Dick with a shaky sigh.

“I hurt Jason. I broke him, Dick. If Jason had killed me… it would have been justified. I will  _ never _ hate him for what he did to me. I deserved it.”

“No, you didn’t.” Dick mumbles. Tim shakes his head and balls his hands into tight fists.

“Yes, I did. And I will admit to that for the rest of my life if I have to. Jason did nothing wrong.”

“I love Jason, but I can’t agree with you. How can you defend him?”

“Because he’s innocent in this! I don’t give a fuck if it was manipulation, I don’t care if you think he’s the bad guy because he attempted to kill me. Dick, no one fucking deserves to go through the hell he did. It destroyed him!” Tim grits his teeth and turns back to Dick, ready for this to go on all night. He was not going to let Dick walk away from this thinking Jason was in the wrong. Dick’s shoulders drop, as does his gaze.

“Tim… this isn’t healthy. I know… Jason isn’t that anymore, but you pretended what he did was okay… that’s fucked up.”

“I don’t care. Jason did nothing wrong, Richard.” Tim’s jaw cracks he bites down on his own teeth that hard. Dick shakes his head and he steps up to Tim. He reaches up and brushes Tim’s hair out of his face as his other hand comes to rest on Tim’s hip. Tim tries not to react to the touch.

“If you didn’t love him, you’d see this from my side.” Dick mumbles. Tim shakes his head and pulls away from Dick.

“You’re wrong.” Tim shakes his head and turns away from Dick again. It hurt, knowing that there was a part of Dick that actually believed Jason would hurt Tim, would hurt Tim’s child. Tim swallows thickly again, trying not to get worked up over it. “Jason cares about me… he’d never… he’s so fucking happy Dick… you can see it. He’d do anything for this baby, it’s given him something to fight for again. Michael’s old enough to fight for himself, Jason’s scared to get in the way of him and his life. This baby… it’s another chance for him. And I’m glad I can give him that chance.”

“What if it’s not his? You don’t know that you’re carrying his child Tim.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Tim looks over his shoulder at Dick again. “I’m doing this with Jason. I’m going to have a family with him. Your opinion doesn’t mean anything.”

Tim doesn’t want to wait for a response. He didn’t start this just to hear Dick rip shreds off Jason. He knew things weren’t always great between them, but he thought they were better. Dick couldn’t let go of the past, couldn’t let go of something that didn’t even have anything to do with him. His view was stained, judgement clouded by the monster Tim unleashed in Jason. Tim hated that more than anything else. If Dick said something else, Tim didn’t hear it. He takes his leave, knowing full well that Dick’s mind isn’t going to be changed so easily. And to think, everything he’d said was a lie. He didn’t trust Jason, maybe he did love him, but he didn’t believe that Jason was a good person. That was what hurt the most because Tim knew Dick was wrong.

\- - -

When Tim gets back to the manor, he’s almost too scared to confront Jason. He’s not sure what to say or if he should say anything at all. He’s not sure that even if he doesn’t want to, he won’t be able to pull off looking fine right now. He knows he’s not, he knows he’s meant to be done with lying, but he doesn’t want to burden Jason with this.

“Master Tim?” Alfred’s voice startles Tim out of his thoughts. He blinks out of his haze, noticing that he’s half undressed out of the Red Robin suit and had been staring off at nothing with the top of the suit balled up in his hands.

“Hey, sorry… I was lost in thought.” Tim swallows and refuses to meet Alfred’s gaze.  _ Not now, not right now, please _ .

“Did something happen?” He asks. Tim chews his bottom lip as he continues getting himself out of the rest of his suit.

“It’s nothing.” Tim shrugs as he hangs the suit up and gets into another set of clothes. He tries to flash Alfred a reassuring smile, but he barely pulls it off and he knows that Alfred, like everyone else, can see through it. Alfred makes a small humming noise before he holds his hand out in a gesture.

“Care to take a walk with me?” He offers. Tim knows he could say no, that he was tired, and Alfred wouldn’t push. But he’d rather talk to someone else than have to face Jason while this was still plaguing his thoughts. He gives a small nod and Alfred leads the way back through the cave and into the manor. Tim follows him slightly as he leads them out the back of the manor, outside into the garden. Tim doesn’t spend a lot of time out here, not anymore anyway. He knows that Jason does. It gives him something to do and he can clear his head when working out doesn’t do the trick. Alfred stops by an old apple tree at the very back of the garden. The things pretty huge, Tim can’t remember it ever being small, it’s that old. The apples are still as delicious as ever, Alfred prides himself in the tree and is always making treats uses the fruit. Hence his famous apple cinnamon buns. For a long moment, they’re silent, standing side by side as they just exist in the cool breeze of the night.

“I spoke with Jason earlier.” Alfred starts. Tim swallows thickly and gives a small nod. That made sense. Despite how much they really weren’t kids anymore, Alfred always made sure to try to talk things out with them when things weren’t going to great. So, the fact that he’d spoken to Jason, knowing full well that he and Dick had fought, made complete sense.

“About Dick?” Tim still wants to clarify.

“Yes.” Alfred lets out a soft sigh and turns his head to look at Tim. He sees it through the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t turn to look back at him. “Richard… he has always held onto things that perhaps he shouldn’t. I can understand the anger he feels due to Jason’s past behaviour and actions. However, I do not think that he should still be viewing Jason in that way.”

“Yeah… I’d wanted to talk to Dick about it tonight… I hadn’t expected him to still feel such hatred toward Jay.” Tim sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair. “Jason isn’t that person, he never has been he just-” Tim cuts himself off. He can feel the anger and upset from earlier resurfacing.

“I know, Tim.” Alfred’s voice is calm. He places his hand gently against the small of Tim’s back, resting it there as a form of comfort. “I didn’t bring you out here to go over all of that again.”

Tim nods and sucks his bottom lip in. He worries it between his teeth as he lifts his gaze to Alfred now. “Dick doesn’t really hate Jason… does he?”

“I don’t believe so. He hates what Jason did, despite what you might say on the matter. He feels the way he does, there is not much you can do to change that. Not now anyway. Maybe one day he will understand.”

“You never expect it to be him… sometimes I forget what he’s been through.” Tim mumbles.

“His own experience does have a major influence on how he feels.” Alfred agrees. “Now, as much as I am not going to force you to talk to me about what happened tonight, you should talk to Jason. I know you don’t want to, but one of Jason’s fears is that you are going to keep trying to hide things from him for his sake. Carrying such burdens is what has caused Richard to feel so negatively toward Jason.”

Tim shakes his head slightly and plays with his own fingers. “It’s not fair on him.”

“Jason is your partner, you should not feel like you need to keep things from him.” Alfred points out. Tim drops his gaze and chews his bottom lip again.

“I don’t, I just… I want him to be okay.”

“Lying won’t make him feel any better. And he feels the same way about you.”

Tim knows Alfred is right. He knows he needs to stop lying. He knows that he should be able to talk to Jason about anything, no matter what it is. This wasn’t just about him, this was about Jason, this was about them. Partially, it was about Tim’s baby too. They needed to talk about this. Maybe they needed to sit down with Dick and really talk about it, but Tim wasn’t ready for that yet. Dick needed a few days to cool off, he needed some time to collect himself too and he knows that Jason will need that time to make sure he doesn’t end up getting angry back at Dick. Because if they start clawing at each other’s throats again, nothing will get resolved.

“I know Al… it’s just hard.”

“I understand. There is a lot going on at the moment and the stress is not good for either of you.” Alfred states. Tim isn’t sure if he’s referring to Tim and Jason or Tim and the baby. He suspects that it’s probably the baby, but it could stand for them all. Stress was one of the greatest steps toward self-destruction. “Talking about it will reduce the stress, Tim.”

Tim just nods. The silence that follows isn’t as calm and easy as it had been before. It doesn’t last long when Alfred drops his hand from Tim’s back and turns to face him fully now. “I believe Jason is waiting for you inside.”

Tim nods again, letting out a nervous sigh as he turns away from Alfred. He stares up at the manor for a moment, the window of his room visible from where they were. The curtains were closed, but they didn’t block out all of the light from showing through. Tim wonders what Jason’s been doing up there while he waited. He tries not to think about it too much and heads on through the garden and back inside.

\- - -

Jason’s going through some papers when Tim enters his room. Jason lifts his gaze, stares a little at Tim before his eyes drop back to the files on the bed. Tim sucks in a deep breath as he closes the door behind him. He slowly walks over to Jason and sits silently on the edge of the bed. They don’t say anything for a while and it makes Tim’s chest tighten. Things should be easy between them, but they  _ weren’t _ . They were as far from easy as they could be. Tim swallows down his body’s want to cry again.

“Jay, I…” Tim swallows thickly, unsure of how to start or  _ where _ . Maybe he should apologise, but he didn’t even really know how to go about that either. Jason slowly lifts his head with a soft sigh.

“You… you didn’t have to do it, Tim. I… this is between me and Dick. He’s got a problem with me, not you. You shouldn’t have gotten involved.” Jason mutters, Tim only just understands him. He pulls his legs up onto the bed and shuffles closer to Jason’s side. He rests his hand on Jason’s thigh.

“This does involve me, it involves our baby-”

“What if it’s not mine? Tim, you seem to forget that you could be carrying Kon’s kid.” Jason grits his teeth and looks away. Tim recoils a little. He drops his gaze.

“You said it didn’t matter.” Tim hates how small his voice is.

“Yeah well… it does. You know it does.” Jason’s hands ball into fists in his lap. Tim’s teeth grind together.

“Is that how you really feel, or are you letting Dick’s fucked up views get to you?” Tim spits out. Jason looks to him through the corner of his eye and doesn’t say anything. Tim shakes his head and turns away fully. “So, you’re just gonna let Dick win this? You’re gonna prove him right because, what? You’re fucking scared? How do you think I feel?”

Tim pushes himself up from the bed. He starts pacing, unsure of what to do with himself. He scoffs, fighting back frustrated tears. “This isn’t easy Jason, it will never be easy. But I  _ need _ you. I can’t do this on my own, I… I don’t want to.”

Tim’s voice hiccups, he tries to swallow the stutter down but he can’t. This was exactly what he didn’t need. If Jason lets Dick get in his head, he can forget about everything that’s happened between himself and Jason for the past two months. He can forget about ever having a chance at thing between them working out. Tim’s nails dig into his palms and he grinds his teeth together trying not to full on sob. Suddenly Jason’s pressing himself against Tim’s back, wrapping his arms around Tim’s waist as he rests his cheek on the top of Tim’s head.

“…What if he’s right?”

“He’s  _ not _ . He never will be.” Tim hiccups again as he grabs hold of Jason’s hand and clutches it tightly. “Don’t give him that satisfaction, don’t prove him right.”

Tim feels Jason nod before he presses a lingering kiss to the top of Tim’s head. “I’m sorry.”

“I get it, Jason, I do. Dick… God… he’s important to you, his views are, his opinions matter. But… this isn’t for him to decide. I love you… I want to raise this child with you. He doesn’t get a say in our lives, in my babies’ life. That’s for me to choose.” Tim swallows thickly. Jason’s hand that he’s gripping shifts and presses to his belly. Tim closes his eyes and focuses on it. “And I’ve chosen.”

“I know,” Jason whispers. “I just hope you haven’t made the wrong choice.”

Tim turns against Jason’s body, looking up at him. He cups Jason’s cheek. “I haven’t.”

Jason’s smile is weak, he doesn’t fully believe Tim. And that’s okay, Tim can understand why he’d doubt himself, especially when he’s got Dick’s negativity feeding his own destructive thoughts. Tim pushes himself up on his toes and kisses Jason softly. Jason tries to relax against Tim.

“Let’s get some sleep. We’ll… we’ll sort this out tomorrow.” Tim suggests. Jason gives a small nod and nuzzles his nose against Tim’s neck.

“I love you too.” He whispers again. Tim tightens his hold on Jason, wishing he would never have to let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	44. Red flags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys so some bad news, there may not be an update in the following few weeks, I'm not sure yet. Things are kinda all over the place atm and I've got a lot of writing projects with deadlines coming up. Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope you understand.

Tim was nervous. His hold on his drink was so tight that he was surprised he hadn’t squashed the cup and spilt the hot drink all over himself. He needed to relax, but he couldn’t get his breathing to calm down. He had no idea why he was so nervous. He shouldn’t be. His eyes shot around the café, searching for who knows what. Something bad, but there was no reason for him to think that there was going to be trouble. He was just paranoid. The door opens, catching his attention and all at once, his nervousness heightens before it crashes down into a pit and he’s finally able to  _ breathe _ . There was no reason for him to be nervous. Cassie shoots him a wide smile and moves over to him instantly. He pushes himself up from his chair and accepts her tight hug. Miguel flashes him a soft smile as he steps up behind her.

“Hey, guys.” Tim pulls away and pulls Miguel into a sideways hug.

“Sorry, we’re a little late.” Cassie gives him an awkward grin. “Kind of my fault.”

“Kind of.” Miguel deadpans and she elbows him in the side.

“It’s fine.” Tim waves it off. He needed to calm down. They were his friends, everything would be okay.

“See you’ve already gotten yourself a coffee. You know what we drink, you could’ve gotten us some too.” Cassie teases with a wink. Tim crosses his arms over his chest.

“Well, I didn’t know how long you were gonna be. And it’s not coffee.”

“Uh oh, the smell makes you sick?” She asks. Tim doesn’t miss the way her gaze quickly drops to his stomach before her eyes meet his again.

“Yeah.” Tim chews his bottom lip. She gives a nod before she gestures to the counter over her shoulder.

“Well, we’ll get our drinks then we can get going. Did you need a refill?” She offers. Tim shakes his head as he picks up his cup, he hadn’t had much from it, his nerves had soft od prevented him from being able to drink.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

Cassie and Miguel order their drinks, Tim offers to pay, they turn him down, then they’re off. Cassie fills what would have been silence with some talk about what’s been going on with the Titan’s lately, making sure to choose her wording carefully so any bypasses don’t overhear the wrong thing. They head to the park, the same one Tim and Jason had gone too not that long ago. They sit themselves down at a picnic table.

“So… how are you?” Miguel asks and Tim tries not to let it bother him that both of their eyes travel over his body. He swallows and fiddles with the lid of his cup.

“Okay, I guess.”

“It can’t be easy.” Cassie mumbles and Tim gives a small nod.

“Yeah… there’s a lot going on.” He admits. He averts his gaze, watching out over the park at all the people. Some are playing with their dogs, others with their kids. Some are just walking and talking, living life. Tim envies how carefree they all look.

“I’m sorry, about what happened with Kon. We had no idea.” Cassie mumbles. Tim shakes his head.

“Don’t be. How could you? I never told anyone.” Tim sighs.

“We’re your friends, we should have… we should have noticed something was going on. So many things just… make sense now.” Cassie reaches her hand over the table and holds Tim’s. She gives it a soft squeeze. “I would have beaten him up a long time ago if I’d known he’d ever even thought about hurting you.”

“It’s… it’s not all his fault. I’m to blame as much as he is.” Tim swallows thickly.

“No, you weren’t in the wrong. You were already a victim to yourself, then you became a victim to him.” Miguel mumbles. Tim shakes his head again.

“Kon isn’t a bad person.”

“We know. But he certainly hasn’t been the best to you.” Cassie sighs. “I just wish I’d been able to see through it.”

“When you look through rose tinted glasses, you tend not to see all the red flags. Even Tim thought it wasn’t as bad as it was.” Miguel states. Tim chews his bottom lip.

“Yeah… I’d grown used to it.”

“That’s not a good thing.” Cassie points out, just like everyone else has, like Tim doesn’t know now how bad everything was.

“It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter anymore.” Tim looks back to them and tries a weak smile. “I’m better now, happier.”

“But not happy.”

“Things are… complicated right now. Jason’s in limbo, I’m in a constant state of worry… we just need time.” Tim admits.

“Dick didn’t sound too happy about you being with Jason.” Miguel mentions. At least he was readable to them. Tim scoffs.

“He isn’t.”

“Are you?” Cassie asks. “Being with Jason… it sounded like it was a very sudden choice.”

“It was… but our feelings have been there for years, building, brewing… maybe it was sudden, but I don’t regret it. I… I love him.” Tim plays with his cup again before he takes a sip of his drink. He meets their eyes, and they both look as worried as each other.

“So long as you’re happy.”

“With Jason… I’ve never been happier.”

“Does he know that?” Miguel asks suddenly. Tim watches him for a moment. He shrugs.

“I think so.”

“Make it that you know so. If he knows that you’re the happiest you’ve been with him, he’ll stop doubting himself.” Miguel suggests. Tim frowns.

“How’d you know?”

“It’s Jason. He doubts everything about himself.”

“It’s his nature.” Cassie offers with a small shrug. “If he has a clear idea of what’s going on, he’s able to calm down and make his own choices with a clear head.”

“He might know you love him, but he knows you loved Kon too. And you weren’t happy with Kon, so what does that say to him?” Miguel raises an eyebrow. Tim hadn’t looked at it like that. He runs his hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh.

“God, you’re so right,” Tim mutters. Miguel offers him a relaxing smile.

“Sometimes you just need to step back Tim. You’re always so focused on the situation at hand that you forget the world is still happening around you.”

“I know. It’s hard to break old habits though.”

“What’re friends for if not to help with that sort of thing?” Cassie asks, squeezing his hand again.

“I’m sorry.” Tim sighs, shaking his head at himself.

“Tim, stop apologising for things like this.” Cassie pulls her hand away and sits up. “Now, I want to hear all about the life that’s growing inside you.”

Tim’s mouth twitches up into a smile that he can’t stop. Miguel leans back as well and gives him the same expectant look. Tim chuckles and shakes his head fondly.

\- - -

“Thank you,” Tim mumbles, a little nervously a few hours later. He and Cassie had just dropped Miguel off and they were heading back to her place.

“What for?” She asks. Tim chews his bottom lip.

“Today. Accepting everything that’s going on so easily… that stuff.” Tim shrugs. Cassie rests her hand on his shoulder and holds him in place, stopping him from continuing. He gives her a sceptical look.

“Tim, you’re my friend, my teammate. I will always accept you.” She offers him a kind smile, something that makes his insides feel all gooey. He drops his gaze, trying not to blush noticeably.

“You have no idea what that means to me.”

“Probably about as much as everything you’ve ever done for me means.” She gives a light shrug. He returns her smile. She pulls him in for a tight hug. “You’re important to us, all of us. We’ll always support you.”

Tim swallows thickly and  _ God _ , he hates his messed-up hormones right now for making his eyes sting with the threat of tears. He presses his face into the side of her neck to try and cover it up. But she can tell and lightly cards her fingers through his hair. “Thank you so much, Cassie.”

“I’ll always be here for you, no matter what. I promise.”

It’s the one thing Tim’s needed to hear most, and it has him crying softly into her shoulder. She doesn’t comment on it, and Tim’s more than thankful for that.

\- - -

“We need to talk.” Tim’s nails bite into his skin again as he stands in front of Jason. They stare at each other for a long moment, because nothing from last night had been resolved yet. Tim almost hadn’t gone out with Cassie and Miguel because of it. He’s glad he had though. It’s helped clear his head. Jason gives a small nod. Tim returns it before he turns away and walks through the manor. Jason follows him. He decides to head outside so that they can just breathe for a moment so that there’s less chance of someone interrupting them.

Tim wraps his arms around himself as he stares out over the garden in the late afternoon sun. It’s kind of nice, he really should spend more time outside than what he does. He lowers his gaze with a soft sigh, staring at the ground in front of him. He’s aware of Jason’s presence beside him, yet it doesn’t really feel like he’s there. Tim takes in a deep breath and looks to Jason through the corner of his eye.

“You know I love you, Jason, you’ve known for years.” Tim manages. Jason drops his head forward and stares at the ground. Tim watches as he chews his lip.

“I always knew,” Jason confirms.

“I… Jason it’s more than just… I don’t just love you, I’m in love with you. I fell in love with you the moment you came back to us, the moment I was meant to accept you as my brother… I have never seen you as that… because I loved you more than anyone. I still feel that way.”

“I know, Tim.” Jason cuts in. He lets out a soft sigh as he runs his hand through his hair. He lifts his head and turns to face Tim. “Dick told me. From the start, he told me how you felt. And from the start… he’s wanted me to stay away from you.”

“What?” Tim recoils a little. He’d just wanted to explain to Jason how he felt, he didn’t expect this. “Why?”

“He has never trusted me around you. I don’t blame him. But no matter what I did, I’ve fought so fucking hard to regain his trust. He… he knew he couldn’t stop me. He had no say. Bruce warmed up to me again, he had no one on his side. But he has never believed me when I’ve told him I love you.” Jason shakes his head, jaw shifting in a way that Tim knows he’s gritting his teeth. “He doesn’t want this baby to be mine, he’d have rather see you stay with Kon then ever be with me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tim manages to ask. He’s not really sure what he’s feeling yet. Anger, sadness, betrayal… it’s all there, mashing together to create some dangerous emotion.

“Because I didn’t want you to see him differently.” Jason sounds like he’s desperate for Tim to understand the situation the way he does. Tim scoffs.

“You didn’t want me to see him for the person he really is?” He states rhetorically. Jason lets out a heavy sigh, his chest heaving with it.

“He could be right y’know? I’m not a great person.”

“None of us are great people Jason. We dress up in capes every night and beat in criminals’ heads because we  _ can _ . But I will get myself fucking killed before I ever agree with what Dick thinks about you.”

“Don’t say that.” Jason mumbles.

“I’m serious.” Tim defends. Jason sighs and turns his head away.

“I know.”

“Dick’s wrong about you, you’re not a horrible person, you’d never fucking hurt me, Jason.” Tim steps up to Jason so that they’re almost pressed together. Jason doesn’t react. Tim cautiously takes both of Jason’s hands in his own.

“Tim… I…” Jason curses under his breath. Tim’s chest tightens, and he drops his gaze.

“Being with you… it’s the happiest I’ve ever been.” Tim admits. Jason looks down at Tim and gives his hands a small squeeze. “I… I’m happy with you Jason. I really am. I don’t… I don’t want to have to be without you. I want to stay with you, I want to have a family with you, I… for the first time in my life I actually… I… I…” Tim swallows thickly, feeling tears build in his eyes. He turns his head away completely and tries to bite back the want to cry. Jason drops his hands and pulls Tim into his body, hugging him tightly. Tim swallows thickly and buries his face into Jason’s chest as his hand's grip at Jason’s clothes tightly.

“For the first time in my life, I’m happy with who I am, where I am… I have something to fight for. I… I have you and you make me happy, Jason.” Tim’s able to get his words out in a shaky voice, managing to hold back from breaking down completely. Jason’s fingers tangle in his hair as he leans down to press his face into the top of Tim’s head. Jason’s other arm is wrapped so tightly around Tim’s body that it makes his heart feel like it’s squeezing itself.

“I’ve never been happier,” Jason admits in a low whisper. Tim can hear the slight hitch to his voice, knows that Jason’s probably fighting back from crying into his hair. Tim moves his hands to grip the back of Jason’s shirt, balling his hands into tight fists in the material as he lets out another shaky breath.

“I don’t care what Dick thinks. He can say what he wants. I love you. I’m raising this child with you.” Tim states, trying to sound as determined and sure as he can. He knows that the fact he’s still crying isn’t helping. Jason sniffles and presses a firm kiss to Tim’s hair.

“I can’t promise I won’t fuck up… but I can promise to do the best I can for you.” Jason mumbles. Tim manages to pull himself away from Jason and looks up at him, wiping his eyes and nose with the back of his hand. Jason’s eyes are red, Tim can see the tears sat in the corners threatening to escape. Tim frames Jason’s face in his own, bringing his head down as he leans in and presses their foreheads together. Jason tilts his head enough to brush his nose against Tim’s.

“Jason, just having you here is enough,” Tim whispers. Jason gives a small nod before they shift, and their lips meet in a soft kiss.

Things weren’t going to get easier, not for a very long time, and Tim knew that. But so long as he had Jason with him, he didn’t care what life threw at him. He knew that Jason wasn’t going to always be the level-headed and calm boyfriend Tim will need him to be. But he knows that Jason will be the father his child needs. That was the only thing that mattered.

“Don’t let Dick get in your head. He… he doesn’t know you like I do.” Tim mumbles softly between them, his lips brushing over Jason’s as he speaks. Jason presses another soft kiss to Tim’s lips.

“I won’t. I’m sorry.” Jason responds in the same soft voice.

“Don’t be Jay, you haven’t done anything wrong.” Tim wraps his arms around Jason’s neck as he turns his head and presses his face into Jason’s shoulder. Jason’s arms wrap tightly around his shoulders. Being in Jason’s arms made Tim feel safer than anything else ever could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	45. Amends

Tim stared at his phone. He’s been trying for days.

He had been avoiding talking to Dick, and he knows that in turn, Dick had been avoiding him and Jason. It’s led to some pretty awkward patrols and even more awkward dinners. But Tim isn’t ready to talk to Dick about it yet. There’s so much anger and hurt that he’s still got boiling in his veins and he wants to be able to approach the situation with a level head. So, sorting out the problem with Dick was on hold, which meant Tim had made a point in seeking out and talking to all of the Titans.

Everyone had been understanding and kind. They’re all apologised for not noticing that he wasn’t happy or safe with Kon, and Tim had told them all that they had no reason to be sorry. He’d managed to meet up with most of them, even with Jason with him. He felt better being able to see them instead of talking over the phone. He’d even met up with Rachel and they’d had a proper talk about it. It was nice, it was good. He felt a lot better about it all. The only person he hadn’t spoken to was the one person he needed to talk to most. Bart had been refusing his calls.

It was frustrating, it was making him feel like complete shit. He  _ needed _ to talk to Bart. But with him refusing to answer and knowing that Bart isn’t going to call him back, Tim had no choice but to see him in person. Bart wasn’t even responding to his texts. It sucked.

It’s late afternoon on a Saturday. It’s been nearly two weeks of Tim constantly trying to get Bart to answer his calls. He’d reached his limit. Even Jamie couldn’t get hold of him, which Tim knew wasn’t good. So, Tim knew that the only way he was going to get anything out of Bart was to go to his place and demand they talk.

“Jay?” Tim calls out into the cave. Jason’s almost finished working with Michael on his bike. Tim has to admit that Jason is really, really good with vehicles.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jason turns from what he’s doing, putting whatever piece was in his hand onto the bench as he faces Tim. He wipes his hands off on a rag and stands up to walk over to him.

“I’m going to Bart’s,” Tim states, letting out a soft sigh like he was already exhausted from the confrontation that hasn’t even happened yet. He sort of was. Jason gives a firm nod.

“Okay. Did you want me to come?”

“No… it’ll probably be better if I go alone.” Tim plays with his own fingers. In all honesty, he was nervous to be going to see Bart. Part of him didn’t really want to, the part that was scared the reason Bart was ignoring him was because he found him repulsive. He knew that wasn’t the reason, he knew it was because he’d ruined the trust between them. But that didn’t stop his mind from saying differently. Jason gives another nod.

“I know… I know he’s your friend, but be careful, please.” Jason reaches out and lightly rests his hands on Tim’s waist. Tim drops his hands to cover Jason’s own, looking up at him with a somewhat sad smile.

“I know. I will be.”

“If you need me, just call okay? I’ll be over as soon as possible.” Jason offers. Tim can’t help but chuckle softly at the suggestion.

“Jason, relax. I’ll be fine. It’s just Bart.”

“Yeah, just Bart. Your best friend who’s been ignoring you since he found out you were pregnant. Nothing to worry about.” Jason sighs. Tim chews his lip and lifts Jason’s hand from his hip to place a kiss to the back of it in the only spot it’s not dirty.

“I’ll be fine,” Tim assures.

“He better hope he has a good reason for this. Because he can run all he wants, I will catch him if he hurts you.” Jason’s tone is almost a growl which makes Tim feel like he should laugh at how protective he is. But he’s also a little worried Jason might hunt Bart down anyway and have a piece of him.

“He won’t, Jason.”

“Good.”

\- - -

Tim’s not sure what his plan is if he’s honest. If Bart isn’t wanting to see him, there’s nothing stopping him from refusing to answer the door when Tim shows up to his place. Still, Tim doesn’t let them stop him from heading up to his apartment. He pauses outside his door though, freezing up as he stares at the numbers that seem to stare back. He swallows thickly and straightens his shoulders. IT was now or never and if Bart refused to let him in, he guessed that meant it was game over. What else could he do? He takes in a steady breath as he lifts his hand and knocks his knuckles against the door. He almost doesn’t breathe as he waits. It’s not too long before the lock clicks and he exhales shakily, ready to spew out any words he has to as the door opens. Only it’s not Bart standing there.

“Kon?” He says stupidly. Kon drops his gaze, his eyes railing down Tim’s body before he meets his eye again.

“Hey, I knew it was you and that… Bart probably wouldn’t have let you in.” Kon mutters under his breath. Tim’s heart feels like it sinks into his gut form the statement. “Btu we need to talk, all of us.”

“How’d you know it was me?” Tim asks. Kon chews his bottom lip and steps aside so that Tim can enter.

“Your heartbeat.” He admits. Tim gives a quick nod before he steps into the apartment. The place is a bit of a mess and if he’s honest, it looks like more than one person has been living in it recently. Tim looks over his shoulder to Kon and gestures to the kitchen uselessly.

“You been staying here?”

“Yeah, just for a little while, until he’s… until this is sorted.” Kon shrugs. Tim chews his bottom lip more and gives another nod. He follows Kon through the apartment. Bart’s sat in the lounge, staring almost blankly at the TV. Tim pauses in the doorway even as Kon continues in. Kon picks up the remote and mutes the TV, snapping Bart out of his trance.

“Who was it?” He asks before he turns his head. Tim feels like he’s been slammed into a wall as his eyes meet Bart’s. First, there’s shock, then sadness, before anger and  _ hurt _ cross his face. Tim instinctively rests his hand against his stomach. Bart sits up straight and Tim can basically hear him gritting his teeth from across the room. “Can’t take a hint?”

“Bart-”

“Whatever it is you have to say, I don’t wanna hear it. I fucking trusted you, I told you  _ everything _ . I thought you trusted me, but you never did, did you? I should have known not to trust a Bat.” Bart snarls as he stands up from the couch. Surprisingly, Kon stands between them, holding his hand out to press into Bart’s chest.

“Just relax, sit down Bart.” Kon mumbles. Tim watches them, as Bart looks Kon over before he shoves his hand away and actually does as he’s told.

“I can’t believe you’re going to defend him after everything he did to you, everything he did to  _ us _ . We’re meant to be fucking  _ friends, _ Tim.” Bart snaps. Tim wants to say that they are, but right now, he knows none of them feel that way.

“After what I did to him I'm surprised he didn’t leave as soon as he saw me,” Kon mumbles, looking over to Tim again. “I hurt him.”

“He fucking  _ used _ you. He manipulated you. The only reason he ever stayed with you was because he’s too mentally fucked to know what to do with himself and he had to take someone else down with him.”

“I’m not the victim here.” Kon snaps back. Bart stares at him, looking like he’s going to argue the point. “Yes, he might have stayed with me because of that, but I’m the one who abused him. I beat him, you know this, I fucking told you and still, you’re standing up for me and ignoring him and I can’t think of a damn reason why.”

“He lied to us, Kon. He acted like he loved you and he never once told me what was going on.”

“I never told you either.” Kon states. Bart’s shoulders start to sag slowly. “I never told you what was happening, I… I didn’t want him to love me.”

Tim’s chest tightens and before he can stop himself, he steps up to Kon and stares up at him. “What do you mean?”

Kon lets out a heavy sigh as he runs his hand through his hair. He looks back to Tim as he swallows audibly. “I didn’t want you to fall in love with me, and I thought you had, maybe you did but I didn’t want that. I wanted you to ‘love’ me enough to stay around, but I didn’t want you to end up wanting a future with me. I… I’ve never loved you the way you loved me. I loved the  _ idea _ of you. You were someone who wanted to take my shit, someone I could hurt and would stay, someone who was just as fucked up as me that when it came to the crunch, you wouldn’t disappear.”

Tim stares at Kon, eyes wide and filling with tears. Kon swallows again and looks back to Bart. “Like I said, I’m not the victim here.”

Tim looks over to Bart. He’s looking back and forth between the two like he doesn’t know what to think. Tim can fully understand that. He looks back to Kon.

“You never loved me… but you needed me to stay.” Tim mumbles, trying to get that idea to sink in. Kon nods slowly.

“You never hated me, even after I beat you, even after I left you feeling like shit. No matter what I did, you stayed, and you fucking  _ loved me _ for it.” Kon shakes his head. “Why didn’t you leave me?”

“I… I couldn’t hurt you… I didn’t want to. It was always… if something went wrong, it was just me, y’know? But now… I couldn’t live if I lost this baby. I’d still be with you if I wasn’t pregnant.” Tim mumbles, finally admitting it to not only Kon but himself. Kon shakes his head again before he turns away.

“I knew… I knew when you started having sex with Damian. I could  _ tell, _ and you’d suddenly gotten a lot closer with him and I thought… I thought to myself ‘this is it.’ And I was… I was almost relieved.” Kon scoffs.  “I thought you were going to leave me. I wanted you to, I could tell you were happier… why didn’t you fucking leave me?” Kon asks in distress. Tim drops his head.

“Damian needed an outlet… and he needed it to be me. There… there was never any feelings between us. I was just… I wanted to help him. But I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to hurt him for it.” Tim mumbles. Kon sighs and runs his hand through his hair again.

“But,” Tim continues, “I realised then, that I didn’t love you anymore. Because you’re right, I was happier, even though it was just Damian and we didn’t have feelings for each other… I knew what it was like to feel love and to be loved and to love again and I didn’t feel that with you.”

“But you stayed with me, for another  _ year _ ,” Kon says.

“I was scared to tell you that I didn’t love you anymore. I was scared you’d figure it out… that you’d hurt someone else… maybe you’d hurt yourself I don’t know I just… I was scared.” Tim swallows, wiping at his eyes as he tries to hold back from crying. “And I knew… I knew I still loved Jason but I couldn’t… you would have killed him.”

Kon drops his gaze and turns away. He doesn’t deny it which is the scariest part. Tim wraps his arms around himself and drops his gaze to the floor. The room is completely silent for the longest time. Bart stands up suddenly, drawing the attention to him.

“So… neither of you were in love, you just… thought you could get something from each other that you couldn’t from anyone else. And it nearly ruined you both.” He says. Tim glances over to Kon. He gives a small nod.

“Yeah… I guess you could say that.” Tim mumbles. Bart lets out a weak laugh, and it’s so fake it almost hurts to hear it.

“And here I was, fucking oblivious to all of it.” He scoffs, shaking his head. Tim drops his arms to his sides and goes to step up to him but decides against it.

“I’m sorry Bart,” He starts, ready to rant on all over again.

“No, you fucking idiot.” Bart sighs, running his hands over his face. “ _ I’m _ sorry. You guys are my best friends. And I couldn't fucking see it. Whenever you two were apart for long periods of time, you were always happier, both of you. I should’ve been able to tell something was wrong. I… maybe I did… but I was scared I’d have to lose one of you if something went wrong between you.” He admits.

Tim’s chest feels like it’s too tight and he steps up to the speedster. “It had nothing to do with you. It wasn’t your responsibility. We’re still teammates, we’re still your friends. This doesn’t have to change that, because it’s got nothing to do with you.”

Bart lets out a shaky breath and steps into Tim’s space, pulling him in for a tight hug. Tim grips the back of his shirt, pressing his face into his neck as he lets out a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry.” Bart mumbles and Tim shakes his head.

“I’m sorry too.”

They hold onto each other until it becomes apparent how awkward it is for Kon. They step back from each other, but before Tim can move away, Bart’s grabbing hold of his arm and keeping him where he is. Bart’s gaze is lowered and Tim knows what’s running through his mind. “You can… y’know.”

Bart chews his bottom lip before he lets go of Tim’s arm, his hand moving slowly to rest lightly against the side of Tim’s stomach.

“You’re really pregnant.” Bart mumbles. Tim scoffs and gives a small nod.

“Yeah.”

“That’s crazy…” Bart lifts his head to look over to Kon. “And I know this is probably weird for you and I’m… I’m sorry if it’s kinda an asshole thing to say but, um…” He trails off.

“I hope it’s Jason’s,” Kon says before he can continue. Tim stares over at him, a little thrown off by the statement.

“…really?”

“Really. You deserve that much, after everything. I hope it’s his. You guys… you’re gonna be great parents.” The corner of Kon’s mouth turns up slightly and Tim can tell he’s being genuine. It makes his stomach feel like it flips.

“Thank you,” Tim says in a small voice. Bart leans into Tim’s side, wrapping his arm around his waist before he makes a hand gesture toward Kon. He’s hesitant, and Tim is too, but after everything, they owe it to Bart. He steps over and allows himself to be pulled into the embrace.

“I don’t feel bad about saying it now. But yeah, Jason’s kind of a good match. Good choice too because he knows how to raise a kid already.” Bart says. Tim chuckles softly and closes his eyes.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

“I’m sorry, for all of this,” Bart says again, sighing softly when they part.

“It’s okay.” Tim offers, giving him a soft smile.

“I never want to do that again, it fucking  _ sucked _ .” Bart huffs, looking between the two. “You guys are my best friends and I’m not gonna choose sides here.”

“It’s okay Bart,” Kon says. Tim looks up at him and their eyes meet. It’s not going to be an easy road, but maybe they can be friends again at some point. Tim’s just glad he didn’t lose Bart along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	46. Thoughts to regret

Tim lets out a deep sigh as he covers his face with his hands. He felt like complete shit. He was sat on the edge of the bath, trying not to just cry from how shitty he felt. He’d just thrown up his guts, which had been happening a lot again at stupid hours of the morning. It was currently just past three am, and he’d managed not to wake Jason when he’d made a dash for the bathroom this time. His pills didn’t seem to be helping and he’s not sure if the increased stress of what’s been going on with Dick was making it worse. All he knew was that he thought after dealing with Bart, things with Dick would be easier to sort out. But he was very, very wrong.

Things were still tense and when he’d tried for even the simplest of conversation, it seemed to just get worse. He didn’t want this to be his life, he wanted to fix everything. His throat feels tight, and not from puking, but from the building sobs trying to choke him out. He wanted everything to go back to normal between himself and Dick. He’d started regretting everything, thinking he’d made the wrong choice. Maybe he shouldn’t be having this baby. A sob escapes him and it’s all over from there. He slides off the edge of the bath, leaning back against it as he breaks down.

It wasn’t fair. He was happy, he felt like he was getting better and every time that happened, something went to hell. He couldn’t lose Dick, he couldn’t live knowing that Dick would never accept the choices he made, knowing that he hated Jason for things that Tim has never blamed him for. He covers his mouth with his hands as he sobs. He feels bile rising in his throat and tries to swallow it down. He can’t and has to push himself over to the toilet before he throws up again.

It was definitely the stress, it wasn’t helping in the slightest. He clutches the sides of the bowl as he throws up what little is left in his system. It leaves him dry heaving, making it even harder to breath and there’s the thought that he wished he were  _ dead _ . He slams his fist against the edge of the toilet, sobbing pathetically into the bowl as his body continues to convulse. Everything hurt. But mainly his chest ached. He’d always strived to make everyone else happy, to keep peace in the family and now that he was thinking about himself, everything was going to hell.

_ I can’t keep this baby _ .

He sobs harder, yanking on his own hair as he leans against the toilet and cries his heart out.

\- - -

He wakes up in bed. He doesn’t remember leaving the bathroom which is just as concerning as it should be. He sits up instantly, looking around quickly. There’s sunlight coming through the blinds and he quickly looks to the bedside drawers to get a look at the time-

Jason’s sat on the edge of the bed, his attention drawn to Tim from the sudden movement.

“Hey, calm down,” Jason says in a low voice, reaching out to rest his hand on Tim’s shoulder. He looks… exhausted. Tim swallows thickly and looks around Jason to read the time. It’s nearly midday and his heart sinks. There are two plates of food on the nightstand, both untouched. Tim’s gut feels like it rolls, but not from nausea.

“I… you weren’t in bed when I woke up. It was four am and I… when I found you passed out in the bathroom…” Jason lets out a shaky breath. “I just thought, y’know, he’d just passed out because he’s  _ tired _ . But… you wouldn’t wake up and I panicked. But you were breathing and… God Tim…” Jason pinches the bridge of his nose. Tim drops his gaze. The stress, it’s all the stress and he knows it.

Jason suddenly crawls into the bed, pulling Tim into his body. He grips him tightly against his chest, burying his face into the crook of Tim’s neck. “I was so fucking scared but Bruce said you’d be okay… I… I couldn’t stop thinking about all the shit that could go wrong.”

“I’m sorry,” Tim whispers. He didn’t want Jason to worry about him. Jason shakes his head as he reaches his hand up to run his fingers through the back of Tim’s hair.

“Don’t apologise baby. I’m just so fucking glad you’re okay.” Jason mumbles. Tim feels his hand move down his back, holding him firmly as he pulls away slightly. He rests his forehead against Tim’s as he drops his gaze. He presses his other hand into the side of Tim’s belly, framing the curve. “I… I need you.”

Tim’s chest squeezes itself and he fails to hold back from sobbing. Jason pulls back, his hands instantly coming up to frame Tim’s face in his hands. “Hey, you’re okay baby, I’m right here.”

Tim shakes his head, squeezing his eyes closed as he covers his face with his hand and pulls out of Jason’s hold. He feels like he should run, but he has no idea what that would even do for him right now. He tries to slow his breathing, tries to collect himself at least a little. Jason’s hand rests against his back, obviously knowing that Tim doesn’t want him to get too close but still wanting to provide comfort. Tim drops his other hand to his belly, pressing his palm against it firmly.

“I can’t… I can’t do this.” Tim mumbles, his voice low and weak. It hurts to even think about it, but he can’t help telling himself that it’d be the right thing to do. Damn his own happiness, everything was falling apart and he knew  _ why _ . Jason grabs hold of Tim’s arm and forces him to face him again.

“Don’t say that Tim. I know, fuck I know what’s going on. But you can’t… you can’t give up. Please.” Jason’s voice is strained like it physically hurts his chest to think about. And Tim knows how that feels because it hurts him too. He shakes his head again.

“This is my fault. Everything’s falling apart because of this and I can fix it, I can make it right again and everything will go back to how things were, and it’ll be  _ fine _ .” Tim rushes to get out, feeling like he can’t breathe. He could feel the panic choking him, could feel the fear in his bones and he knew that was a panic attack rising in his body. Jason’s shaking his head, his hold on Tim’s arm tightening and he looks like he’s moments away from falling in a fit of panic as well and it’s not  _ helping _ .

“No, Tim  _ no _ . You’re wrong.”

“This is only happening because I’m pregnant.” Tim’s not sure if he’s trying to convince Jason or himself more.

“ _ Stop it! _ ” Jason snaps. Tim’s heart lurches in his chest and he stares back at Jason in shock. Jason’s shoulders are shaking and Tim’s unable to tell if he’s more upset or angry. “I don’t care what you  _ think _ is happening right now, you’re fucking wrong. This is not your fault. You are not terminating our baby because you think it’ll magically fix everything. It fucking won’t. You’ll be miserable, I… I won’t let you destroy this.”

Tim feels queasy, but not like he could throw up. His chest aches and he just wants to scream. He tries to pull his arm out of Jason’s grip, but he just holds onto him harder. “I’m already miserable.”

“No, you’re not, not because you’re pregnant. Dick fucking hurt you, and he doesn’t have the balls to admit he fucked up. You can’t ruin this Tim.” Jason  _ snarls _ and Tim tugs harder on his arm.

“Jason-”

“You said you wanted to keep this baby, you said nothing mattered, this was what you wanted. What happened to all that shit you said the other week? You told me you wanted a family with me, and suddenly things are getting too hard and you want to back out! It’s not going to get easy Tim, not for a long time and you know that.” Jason’s almost yelling and he’s definitely angry. Tim struggles more in Jason’s grasp, feeling the rising panic only start to increase more.

“Jason, you’re scaring me.” Tim practically whimpers. He knows Jason isn’t Kon, he knows that Jason isn’t going to hurt him, but his mind is screaming at him. Jason seems to snap out of his own headspace, instantly releasing his hold on Tim’s arm. This was exactly what Dick had been accusing him of. Tim curls in on himself, staring up at Jason as he tries to calm the pounding of his heart. Jason balls his hands into tight fists and turns away from Tim.

“I’m sorry. But… you’re making this choice to make everyone else happy, you don’t care about what you want. You think this will be the right choice just because everything seems like it’s going to shit. I fucking  _ hate _ that.” Jason grits his teeth but tries to calm himself enough that he doesn’t snap again. Tim swallows thickly and closes his eyes. He just wants to cry.

“I don’t think it is, the evidence is there-”

“Besides Dick, what else is going wrong? You’ve spoken to all the Titan’s, they’re understanding of this. You fixed everything with Bart and by the sounds of it, even things with Kon aren’t that bad right now. The only problem is Dick, and he’s only against this because of  _ me _ .” Jason looks back at Tim, completely unbelieving that Tim truly thinks this is the only and right choice.

“I shouldn’t even be pregnant, Jason! I never should have had sex with you, I shouldn’t have skipped taking my pill!” Tim shouts. He digs his nails into his skin as his body shakes with more suppressed sobs. Jason turns his head away, grinding his teeth together so hard that his jaw aches.

Silence falls between them and it’s almost as deafening as their yelling had been. Tim’s almost surprised that no one has come up to see what’s going on. The silence is suffocating and thankfully doesn’t last forever.

“I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that you want to kill your baby,” Jason says finally. His voice is weak again and it hurts to hear it. Tim stares back at him as Jason turns to face him. Jason’s eyes shine with tears. Tim swallows thickly because he knows he can’t. It’s not what he wants. It’s just the easier option. He still tries. His mouth opens and closes, no sound escaping him. Jason’s clenched jaw goes slack and the tears manage to escape his eyes. Tim snuffles as he watches them trail down Jason’s cheeks. “You don’t want this.”

“Of course I don’t.” Tim hiccups. Jason lets out a shaky breath and moves closer to Tim again. Tim doesn’t pull away when Jason grabs onto him and pulls him into his chest. Tim clutches onto Jason and lets himself cry his heart out again. He hated this. He hated that his mind was at war with itself. He hated that he couldn’t just be happy with his own choices, that he felt he had to please everyone else. He hated that this wasn’t planned.

“I know, this fucking sucks and everything hurts. But trust me baby girl, we’ll be okay. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better, but I promise you we will get there Tim.” Jason mumbles into Tim’s hair, his voice stuttering with his own crying. Tim pulls himself harder into Jason’s body. He just needed his mind to shut up, everything would be okay then. Jason holds onto him for what feels like hours as they try to calm themselves down.

Jason pulls away, breathing in deeply. He wipes at his face, looking Tim over. He leans in and kisses him, slow but forceful. Tim grips Jason’s wrists like his life depends on it. When he pulls back, despite how empty and exhausted he feels, there’s definitely some warmth in his chest now. Tim leans into Jason and swallows the tears still threatening to spill.

Jason cups Tim’s face in his hands and kisses him softly. Tim holds onto Jason’s wrists, stroking his thumbs into his skin slowly. It’s short, but it’s just what Tim needed to help settle the war raging in his mind. Even if it was only for a short moment, it was enough. Tim sighs and drops his gaze, his hand falling to rest against his belly.

“I just… I want to fix this.” Tim mumbles as he swallows thickly. Jason sighs and continues to stroke his thumbs against Tim’s cheeks. And it’s comforting having Jason hold his face so softly like he’d do anything to make sure he didn’t hurt Tim.

“I know, but you’ve done nothing wrong. This is between Dick and me, and he’s too fucking proud to admit he fucked up. I’ll talk to him, I don’t care if it leads to more arguments. He at least needs to know what kind of shit he’s caused you.” Jason practically growls. Tim shakes his head and squeezes his hand around Jason’s wrist.

“No, Jason it’s fine-”

“How is any of this fine Tim? He can hate me all he wants, I don’t fucking care. But he will fix things with you.”

“You can’t just guilt him, Jase,” Tim mumbles as he pulls Jason’s hand from his face. Jason drops both hands to his lap. He grinds his teeth, Tim can see his jaw moving from it as his eyes travel down Tim’s body.

“I won’t be. He knows he hurt you, but he’s trying to ignore it.” Jason sighs. He lifts his hands, almost too slowly and frames the small curve of Tim’s belly. He closes his head and leans forward to rest his forehead against Tim’s own. “The only reason you’re taking any heat from him is because of me, so, I’m going to fix this.”

Tim sighs but nods. He knows that Jason will do it even if they came to the agreement that he shouldn’t. It’s just easier if he agrees with Jason from the get-go. Jason pulls back enough to shuffle back on the bed. He leans down and kisses the top of Tim’s belly.

“I have never been so scared and excited for something in my life, Tim. I don’t care if they’re not biologically mine, I won’t let you make any choices you’ll regret.” Jason’s voice is low, almost more like he’s talking to the baby than Tim. Jason’s shoulders sag slightly and he slumps into Tim’s belly more. Tim tries to swallow the lump still in his throat as he lifts his hand and slowly runs his fingers through Jason’s hair.

Jason was right, of course, he was. Tim didn’t want to give this up, but he was always willing to sacrifice his own happiness to make sure that everyone else was happy. It was a personal flaw, one he’s had from the beginning. Maybe it’s because of the way he was raised, maybe it’s because he was expected to be someone incredible from the beginning. He was expected to be more than he could ever actually be. Tim tips his head back a little and chews his bottom lip. He couldn’t please everyone, that’s not how this worked. He just hadn’t expected things to go so wrong so suddenly between them and Dick.

“I want to be there when you talk to him.” Tim states. Jason slowly lifts his head and looks Tim over for a second like he’s waiting for Tim to turn around and say that he changed his mind. He sits up again, keeping his hands on Tim’s stomach.

“Are you sure? I just… I don’t want him to snap at you.” Jason mumbles, sounding like he thinks he’s offending Tim.

“I’d rather hear what he has to say personally. Because he’s had his piece of you, he’s had his piece of me. I want to know how much of it he actually feels and how much he only feels because he’s got fucked up views in his head.” Tim shrugs.

Jason chews his lip and gives a small nod of his head. He lifts his hand and lightly runs his fingers through Tim’s hair. “We’ll talk to him when he gets home. But for now, are you feeling up for some food? It’s gonna be cold so I can heat it up if you want-”

“No, it’s fine cold.” Tim cuts in. He wasn’t really hungry and part of him was still a little worried that he’d be sick again, but at least Jason was awake this time to make sure he doesn’t pass out. Jason nods and pulls away from Tim to reach for the plates of food. He hands one to Tim and sets the other in his own lap. He watches Tim though and doesn’t make any move to eat his own food.

“You could have eaten earlier you know?” Tim points out as he starts messing around with the food in front of him a little.

“I couldn’t. I was worried sick about you.” Jason admits. Tim chews his bottom lip and lets out a small sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

“What for? It’s not your fault.” Jason shrugs as he watches Tim eat the first bite of his food. It’d probably be nicer if it was heated up, but Jason wasn’t going to force it if Tim didn’t want it.

“I know… but I’m sorry I worried you.” Tim sighs. He plays with his food a little more before he takes another bite. Jason drops his gaze and begins eating his own.

“I’m just relieved you’re okay. And the baby’s okay.” Jason says in a somewhat small voice. Tim nods his head. They eat their food in silence, barely acknowledging each other. Tim thinks it over in his head. He knew that terminating the baby wasn’t on the table. If he really didn’t want it, Jason wouldn’t stop him but-

Tim lifts his gaze slowly and lets his eyes travel over Jason’s body. There’s a weird tugging at his chest and he swallows thickly. He wanted this, more than anything. He wanted to have a baby with Jason, he wanted this family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


	47. Toxic envy

Tim almost wishes that Dick was going to be home late. He doesn’t want to face this, he knew that he wasn’t ready to. The prospect of another massive fight breaking out between Jason and Dick was something he wasn’t sure he was ready to endure. But he knew that the sooner they got this out of the way, the better. The moment that Dick’s home, Jason’s telling him that they need to talk. He doesn’t ask, he more demands it from the older. Tim isn’t sure if it’s a smart idea, but it’s happened now. He follows Jason to the training room, which Tim would find a questionable choice, but he also knows that Jason does it so that if Dick really gets under his skin, instead of lashing out at him, he can blow off some steam. At least, that’s what he’d assumed would be the case.

Instead, when Dick comes down into the training room, Jason tells him that they’re going to spar and Tim realises that this was Jason way of saying he was going to fuck up Dick’s shit if he said something wrong. Tim tries not to visibly panic when Dick agrees almost eagerly. They take stances on either end of the mats, squaring up their shoulders as they glare across at each other. Instead of moving though, Jason starts talking.

“I’m sure you have a lot to say, so say it.” Jason sounds angry and yeah, he looks it too but Tim isn’t sure if he actually is. Dick’s eyes flick over to Tim for a split second before he’s glaring back at Jason.

“Why? I’ve said my piece.” Dick mumbles, trying to avoid the conversation. Jason grinds his teeth but doesn’t attack.

“So you meant it? Every fucking word?” Jason presses. “Because you’ve had very different conversations with the two of us, and it seems you have a lot of problems with me, but you also don’t actually know why the fuck you’re pissed with me.”

“I’m not pissed with you.” Dick defends. Tim swallows thickly, either he was lying, or he was going to admit what Jason thought, that there’s actually no problem here and Dick’s got some unrelated problem and he doesn’t know how to deal with his frustration.

“Bullshit, you don’t want the baby to be mine, you don’t even want us to be together. Which, by the way, doesn’t fucking concern you.” Jason moves forward, swinging a wide punch at Dick. Something easy to dodge, which was on purpose. If Jason wanted to hurt Dick, he would. Dick blocks the hit and follows the movement of Jason’s fist to move away from Jason again.

“I know it doesn’t! But that doesn’t change what you  _ did _ .” Dick snarls. And there it was. Tim knew it was coming but he still wished that it could have been delayed longer. Instead of attacking him, Jason keeps his stance.

“I know what I did Dick, and every day of my life I’ve tried to make up for it. I can’t change it, I can’t fix it, and I regret everything I did to him. You know what it did to me, you know that it broke me as much as it broke Tim. And no, I’m not trying to play the victim card, but I would never fucking do that to anyone, not again, and especially not Tim.” Jason’s almost shouting. Tim drops his gaze. This was what it was going to be, just them arguing over and over until they had to get out of each other’s faces before someone was killed. This wasn’t going to fix anything.

“It doesn’t matter that you wouldn’t, you still did it! Not to mention that you heavily encouraged Tim to cheat! And yeah, maybe that’s as much on him as it is you, but you fucking  _ knew _ .” Dick shouts back, raising his voice like he wants to make sure he’s louder than Jason.

“Because you’ve never made a fucking mistake in your life, have you, Grayson?” Jason snarls as he advances on Dick again. They throw a couple punches, now actually make contact and Tim wonders if either of them actually want to hurt each other. “You’re the golden child, so fucking perfect that any wrongdoing you did would be overlooked by everyone!”

“That’s not fucking true!” Dick snaps. “I know I’ve fucked up too, but I never raped Wally!”

Tim closes his eyes, trying to tell himself not to interfere. Jason had told him that he wanted to sort this out, that just because Tim was there didn’t mean he had to get even more involved. But he couldn’t just sit there and listen, especially when Jason responds;

“I regret everything I ever did to him back then. If I could fucking take it back, I would in a heartbeat. It fucking haunts me every day!”

“Stop, just fucking stop!” Tim stands up from the bench he’d been perched on and moves forward. “It wasn’t  _ rape _ .”

“Yes, it was!” Dick seethes. Jason holds his hand out toward Tim.

“I told you-” He starts but Tim swats his hand away and stands between them.

“I consented to everything! Not once did I tell him to stop. It doesn’t matter that I hadn’t always wanted it and that I didn’t want to get hurt, I never once fought it. I put myself in that position, time and time again and I never once thought that I hated what was happening. I wanted it, even though I knew I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t rape.” Tim argues. It’s what he should have said that night with Dick but he hadn’t. He’d been a coward. “I… I wanted everything he gave to me.”

“You were conditioned-”

“You can’t be conditioned to something that’s never happened to you before.” Tim cuts in. “From the start, I wanted anything Jason gave me. And I only regretted it once it was gone.”

Tim hears Jason move behind him, but he doesn’t pay it much mind. He nearly jumps out of his skin when Jason’s hands come to rest on his waist. Tim covers Jason’s hands instantly, squeezing them lightly.

“Babe,” Jason mumbles and Tim shakes his head.

“I was never a victim to Jason. Not when we had sex.” He knows he needs to add the last bit.

Because as much as he wished he could say it wasn’t true, Jason had tried to kill him in the very beginning. Dick turns his head and clicks his tongue. His chest is heaving like they’d physically fought, and even though he and Jason had thrown a few punches, it wasn’t enough to get him breathing like that. No, he was riled up to that point.

“If that’s the truth, then why were you scared of him?” Dick asks. Tim closes his eyes and lets out a small sigh.

“I was scared… that maybe he’d stop hurting me. That’s why… that’s why I was okay with being with Kon. It became the norm. I wanted to hurt. When Jason came to me and told me… when he apologised and told me that he’d… that he was falling in love with me I couldn’t… I knew that he wasn’t going to hurt me anymore and I didn’t want that. I wanted him to hurt me.” Tim admits. He swallows thickly and screws his eyes shut. Yes, it was fucked up, and yes he knew that wasn’t helping anything, but at least he’d told the truth. Jason wraps his arms tighter around Tim’s body and rests his head on his shoulder. Tim swallows again and lifts his hand to lightly run his fingers through Jason’s hair.

“But… I was able to break myself out of that eventually… but I couldn’t leave Kon. I never blamed Jason, I forgave what didn’t need forgiving. I had as much say as what he did.” Tim finishes. Dick doesn’t look convinced, in fact, he looks just as angry, if not angrier.

“But if you hadn’t been, he would have still done it. He would have raped you.” Dick hisses. Tim closes his eyes and lets out a sigh.

“It doesn’t matter about ‘what if’. I consented to everything. That’s the fact.” Tim states, keeping his tone firm.

“You still cheated.”

“Kon was abusive.” Jason throws in, lifting his head and straightening up against Tim’s back.

“So were you-”

“I wasn’t an abusive  _ boyfriend _ . The moment I realised I had feelings for Tim I stopped, and I have never wanted to hurt him again. And it’s fucked up. But at least I never told him I loved him after I beat him.” Jason defends. Either way, they both knew the situation was fucked up. Maybe Tim had Stockholm Syndrome, maybe he was just mentally fucked. But it didn’t matter. For the first time in over a year, he was actually happy. And he knew that feeling was real and that Jason was happy with him too.

“It’s still cheating, no matter what he did to you.” Dick states. Tim frowns, thinking on that. Because if he was correct, those statements sounded contradictory. He didn’t want Jason with Tim because he was abusive, but he’d rather Tim be with Kon, who was abusive rather than cheat on him. Tim straightens up more too and shrugs out of Jason’s hold. Dick stares at him, his face unreadable.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Jason,” Tim states as the pieces start to click together. The problem wasn’t the person, it was the action. Because he knows that even though Dick hasn’t actually said it, he didn’t want Tim to stay with Kon. But Kon wasn’t here, and the action at offence was cheating, not the fact that it was Jason.

“I slept with Damian too, y’know?” Tim states. Dick blinks at him, obviously not knowing. Because no one did and maybe he shouldn’t be saying this because Damian hadn’t really wanted to know, but he’s just cracked Dick open. “Are you going to start picking fights with him too?”

Dick swallows and drops his gaze. Tim’s chest finally feels like it releases the pressure. This had nothing to do with Jason or the fact that the baby could be Jason’s. And that was the biggest relief of Tim’s life. He steps up to Dick and cautiously lifts his hand. He rests his palm against Dick’s cheek, holding his face. Dick covers his hand and gives it a small squeeze.

“Why weren’t you just honest?” Tim asks. Dick closes his eyes and his shoulders sag. He shakes his head softly.

“I was angry, I really was. For a few days, I couldn’t believe that you’d… that you were with Jason after he hurt you. But then… I realised I wasn’t angry at him.” Dick mumbles.

“You were angry with yourself,” Tim states, which was exactly the conclusion he’d come to. Dick lifts his gaze and reaches up to frame Tim’s face in his hands.

“You’re my little brother Tim, and I didn’t see any of it. I… I didn’t know, I was too blind to see what was happening and you… I should have been there for you and I fucking wasn’t. And… finding out about Kon and that you were gonna have a baby and now you’re with Jason, there was a lot to take in. And I guess… I’m jealous too, to some point. Because you have Jason and I know… fuck I know he’s not going to hurt you, I was being an ass because you’re with Jason and you’re gonna have a baby and I… I’m too fucking stupid to try and plan my own wedding because every time I think about it, I think about everything that could go wrong.”

Tim sighs and pulls Dick in for a hug. To some extent, he could understand all of that. It wasn’t easy to blame yourself for your failure, especially when they were mostly in your head. And going by what Dick was saying… none of what he felt had anything to do with anyone else. It was all his own issues with himself that he needed to project because he didn’t want to wallow in it alone. Tim presses his face into Dick’s neck and sighs, closing his eyes.

“Dick-”

“No, I know. I’m so fucking sorry. This is just… it’s all my own shit and I’m sorry that I… I’m sorry that I had to shove it on you. I just… I really was worried okay? Everything was happening so fast and instead of talking about it I just… I let it get in my head and I told myself I had to… I had to hate you. Because you were doing better than me. And I… I just don’t have myself together and it’s just stupid  _ envy _ .” Dick mumbles as he nuzzles into Tim’s own shoulder. Tim chews the inside of his bottom lip. He could almost understand this too well. When Dick had announced that he and Wally were engaged, all Tim could think about was how he wasn’t going to have anything like that for a long time, maybe at all.

“Listen Dick… we get it.” Jason offers. Tim lifts his head and looks over his shoulder at him as he moves closer. Dick’s arms tighten around Tim’s body, like he’s scared that he’s going to move away from him or something. “But you can’t keep doing this. Not just to us but to yourself as well. You need to… you need to stop letting things boil up.”

Dick drops his gaze and slowly releases Tim. “I know, and I’m sorry.”

Tim spares a glance over to Jason, not really sure where to go from here. The misunderstanding was out of the way, but the problem was still at hand. He wasn’t sure if they should just drop it for now and attempt to work it out later or if they should finish what they started.

“Dick…” Jason sighs but Dick shakes his head.

“I… I just want you safe and okay. I want you to be happy.” Dick mumbles. Tim’s shoulders sag as he looks back to Dick.

“I am Dick, I am happy, and I know I’m safe. Jason won’t hurt me, but I know that if he did, you’d kick his ass for me.” Tim tries to go for something light-hearted, and thankfully is brings a small smile to Dick’s lips.

“I promise.” He says, and Jason makes an offended noise. But there’s no harm to it and Dick looks back to him and his smile softens more. “I’m really sorry Jase.”

And Tim’s chest flutters pleasantly at the nickname because that means that Dick really means it. Jason returns Dick’s smile and steps up to him, pulling Dick into a tight hug. Tim lets out a small sigh of relief. It might take a little while for things to fall back into place, but finally, everything was starting to go right for them. Jason spares him a glance over Dick’s shoulder and smiles down at him. Tim rests his hand against the side of his belly and smiles back at him. They would be okay, Jason was right. He just needed to clear his head and he could come to believe that they could be happy and they could have the family they wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


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